Sacred Mark of The Rising Kekkei Genkai
by Grimstep5
Summary: He was purged clean of his simple-mindedness and enlightened of his power. Out of the fires of liberation came a new Naruto. Namikaze, the purest blood; Within his eyes, lies potent strength and within his heart, his innermost demons. NarutoxHarem
1. The sacred mark appears

To you all, as a heads up, I'm re-writing all my chapters. Not content wise, but grammar and stuff, this site has a habit of scrunching words together and what not. Oh and for those who have been wondering...I AM ALIVE.

Oh yeah just a little tidbit of useless information: You know this chapter actually got deleted when I was almost finished with it, so I had to start the whole thing over...damn I'm still mad about it. This chap might not be as good as I intended to be But still...

Tell what you think and if you have any ideas, tell me...but make sure you do it in a review.

Hope you like it (Enjoy or else.)

* * *

Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

It begins, it's revealed, it continues.

There was a baby crying, loudly, but that wasn't the only thing that could be heard. There was also sighing, grumbling, coughing, complaining, and the explosions coming from the surface above.

Five Nin, Anbu, all stood in a perfect circle. In the middle was a baby, blond-haired and beautiful, he wiggled his short limbs in tiny circles. Countless seals had been carved into the floor, they ran all around the room.

"Damn, this kid's crying is getting on my fucking nerves!"

"Calm down! Stick to the orders we were given. We're not supposed to be speaking." The conversation between the two Anbu drew the attention of the others.

"I know Sasaki, but still this kid's crying is working my last nerve!" Even though the Anbu member claimed to be angry at the Fourth's child he didn't move an inch, he still knew what his order's were. He was not to speak, not to move and for some strange reason he was told not to look at the infant, not even a glance. It was like the Hokage didn't want anyone to see his son's face.

With silence in the room another Anbu member decided to speak up and support his teammate's anger, breaking orders yet again.

"You know Sasaki, Rai might have a point, it is kind of hard to concentrate with this kid's wailing." Sasaki, their leader let out a big grumble of annoyance at his teammates. He couldn't turn around to look at them, he didn't want to break order's by turning his head toward the kid. He just looked up at the ceiling.

"I don't know what you two are complaining about, you should be honored, we were specifically chosen to guard this child, he's our savior and is taking on a lot of responsibility." Sasaki could hear both of his teammates sigh in defeat and gave himself a smile of victory, you couldn't see it though.

He thought that he had convinced his team to deal with it but, with the defeat of two another two came to help out.

"Sasaki what are you talking about, sure he's our savior but anyone could be our savior." That comment caused the other three to nod their heads in agreement.

"Yeah our savior is a little wailing infant and we don't even know what the little brat looks like."

"Rai, don't speak badly about the Yondaime's son he making huge sacrifice fo-..."

"To hell with this sacrifice anyone could have the Kyuubi sealed inside it!"

"Then how about you Rai? This brat is about to go through that and he doesn't even know, and if you're so immature that you can't deal with his crying then you don't have what it takes to be part of my team!"

Said Rai was instantly quiet at that last comment, he figured that what he captain said was true so he just stood there in silence, the silence that just realized had come. the little kid had stopped crying his nightmare was over.

"You see Rai, he stopped crying and went to sleep, are you happy. Don't ever act that childish again."

"Yes Sasaki." He was in fact very happy, he could do his job in peace.

* * *

The child seemed to be at peace.

The only thing that was weird was the huge gate the the infant lay in front of. Also what was behind it didn't pull trigger on normal either. Behind the gates were a huge pair of eyes staring at the young infant boy. They stared with red, slitted eyes. Underneath the eyes was a widespread mouth, fangs were visible, overlapping clearly exposed teeth. It almost looked like the mouth was smiling.

The huge mouth opened and let out a huge roar causing the child to cry.

**"This little thing, this is what he sealed me into? What a joke Yondaime you are a foolish man." **

"Kyuubi no Kitsune", the terror of Konoha and an unstoppable force of nature. This beast was truly a terrible sight to behold it couldn't be killed for it was immortal. Yet it was killed, well its physical body anyway. As for its spirit , that was a different story, its spirit was in a body but not one of its own.

The immortal Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed away inside of a small infant, the fourth Hokage's legacy, and the fourth Hokage's son.

**"Let me out! Damn him, damn him to hell! How dare he seal inside his son and then just die like that, Yondaime I will get you back even if through this child. I'll kill it!"**

A razor sharp claw shot out of the gate heading for the still crying infant. It came at amazing speed, surely this child was going to die and Kyuubi would be free. But Kyuubi's claw stopped just inches away from the child's face there was something blocking him from killing the newborn babe.

**"What? This must be another trick this his...father, I hope he's having a great time with the shinigami. Well that fool forgot one thing, I may not be able to kill this boy but I can take something away from him." **

Red chakra began to swirl around the naked and crying form of the infant. It wrapped around the kid's fragile body and seemed to seep inside of his body. The infant's crying grew even louder, it was like the boy was in pain. A cruel thing to do to a newborn, Kyuubi was truly an evil being, perhaps its essence.

The huge fox let out an evil laugh at the infant's cries in pain, he was enjoying an infant's cry.

**"Cry cry all you want, child for it shall make no difference." **The demonic fox let out another one of his deeply baritone laughs at the child. **"Yondaime, I may not be able to kill you're son but I can take a part of him away."**

The crimson chakra surround the baby fully seeped into his skin, and something changed. Blond baby boy seemed to shrink a bit, then his crying subsided, the child was then silent.

**"Have a nice life...Naruto."**The fox then started to laugh his demonic laugh again, whatever He did to Naruto was sure to be something of the worst nature. It had to have been.

* * *

- (Twelve Years Later)

Hard glares, evil intentions, all pointed at him, the many assassination attempts made by the villagers that he usually escaped, narrowly escaped. Memories of the first time he met that bastard fox inside him and how lonely he was when he got home. Times when he would cry himself to sleep because he didn't have parents to read him a bedtime story and help him sleep.

Why was it all happening to him, why? That was the thing he didn't know why he had no parents, why people tried to kill him, why every time he walked down the streets the villagers would look at him with that intense hate that he was so used to.

He guessed he was just born that way and destined to stay like that. A freak of the world. Although he wouldn't have been so angry if he just knew why it was happening to him, why any of it was-...

"Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki pay attention!"

Naruto's eyes popped open, he raised his head to figure where he was. He looked around sleepily and observed his surroundings. Chalkboard, kids his age, Iruka sensei: the classroom.

"Naruto if you don't pay attention you'll never become a ninja." The voice of his sensei and surrogate brother rang threw his head waking him up completely. Iruka had been one of the few people who actually cared for him, whose eyes didn't stare harshly. He was always kind to him, therefore Naruto considered him to be a sort of older brother of sorts.

Naruto then heard another voice from across the room. "Does it even matter Iruka sensei, we all know Naruto's not going to become a real ninja anyway." The whole class erupted into laughter at Naruto, pointing in mocking fashions. He looked down in shame.

It really wasn't the fact that every one was laughing at him it was the person who said that really got to him. Haruno Sakura, top of the class when it came to kunoichi and the current subject of his affection, he knew he had no chance but he still tried. He was a fighter.

"Y-Yeah I will, just you watch I'm going to become the Hokage and I'll show you all!" Barely restrained laughter could be heard due to Naruto's comment. Some random kid decided to speak out and further embarrass Naruto.

"Yeah right Naruto, you can't even do a basic henge, let alone become Hokage." Once again the class erupted in laughter; Naruto gritted his teeth.

"SETTLE DOWN!" Iruka yelled, bringing all the laughter to a stop and all eyes were on him. It seemed like every time he yelled every one stopped what they were doing. "Jeez, now class I have to cut class early, I have an urgent assignment...so class dismissed. Remember practice your techniques for the graduation final tomorrow."

Naruto got up out of his seat and began to walk out the door with the rest of the class.

"N-Naruto can I speak with you-...?" Naruto paid him no mind and walked out. Naruto didn't need to talk with Iruka right now, he needed to be away from everyone. A place where he could think, that's one thing a lot of people didn't know about Naruto Uzumaki, he liked to think. On the outside he was a loud, rash, weak little failure, on the inside he was much different.

The Hokage faces, his getaway from reality. His sanctuary and the closest place he could find to get some peace and quiet. Naruto walked outside the academy and immediately headed for the Hokage faces. In approximately five minutes he was there, sitting on the the top of the Yondaime's head. He sat at the edge looking down on all of Konoha.

He then closed his eyes.

_Kyuubi, you there?_ Naruto could hear the faint sound of a fox's chuckle.

**'Of course you twit, I'm always hear, I'm inside you remember?'**

_Shut up you stupid fox_.

**"What do you want, I'm trying to sleep here." **Naruto let out a sigh

_I just wanted to talk, what that's not allowed in my own head._

**"Talking to yourself is a bad habit Naruto, but that isn't the real reason why you're talking to me, is it." **

_N-No that is the reason why, I just wanted-... _Naruto could hear the loud chuckle of the Kyuubi inside his head, he let out another mental sigh.

**"You want to know why you're so weak, don't you?" **

_Never mind I don't want to talk._

**"Then I will..." **An intense pain went through Naruto's body, red chakra surrounded him, the rock monument depicting the Yondaime's head began to crumble away beneath him . The chakra shot out of Naruto's stomach and began to float in the air in front of Naruto.

"W-What the hell is this...ahhh!" The pain grew even more as the huge mass of chakra began to take the form of a giant fox's head. The chakra distorted and fur sprang out of it. In less then ten seconds there was a huge fox's head in front of Naruto.

More chakra pumped out of Naruto's body and collided with the furry fox's head, filling in the sockets and taking the form of eyeballs. The head of the Kyuubi was fully formed and it looked at Naruto with rage.

_What the hell, how did that damn fox get out of me?_ Naruto thought.

**"Naruto, come here I have something to give back to you. Stand up!" **On command Naruto stood up and looked the fox dead in the eye. If this was Naruto's first time meeting Kyuubi then he would have probably wet his pants by now.

**"Come here."**Just like before Naruto walked carefully to the Kyuubi, being careful not to make the fragile rock underneath him crumble away. In five steps he was right in front of the floating head of Kyuubi.

**"Naruto you are useful to my plans and if you are to carry out what it is that I intend for you to do then you must become a true ninja and in order to do that I must give it back." **

"Give what back, what the hell are you talking about. What did you take away from me anyway?" Kyuubi gave a low demonic chuckle. He looked at Naruto with those red slitted pupils that struck immediate fear into the hearts of every person in Konoha who knew of them.

**"Naruto, let me just tell you I will get out and find my body, but for now I need you to grow so I will give back your true self!" **Red chakra enveloped Naruto's body, covering him completely and making the surface beneath him crumble away but Naruto did not fall, he just floated.

"Kyuubi what is this shit? You can't-...ahh!" A spike of pain rang through Naruto's body, it hurt badly but to Naruto it seemed familiar, almost as if he had felt before. Naruto forced himself to speak between the unbearable pulses of pain going through his body. He pried his mouth open and spoke through the veil of nearly crimson chakra around him.

"Kyuubi...W-What do you mean by...my true self, what is there about me that I don't know?" Naruto's breathing suddenly returned to normal. For some reason the intense pain he had felt moments ago suddenly turned into warmth. Naruto's eye's twitched at the feeling, it made his body shudder. That didn't go unnoticed by Kyuubi.

**"You feel it don't you, Naruto. The feeling of that empty space being filled in, this is the part of you that makes your true self."**The invigorating feeling spread through Naruto's body, all traces of pain were gone. Naruto raised his head and looked Kyuubi in the eye, something he was never fond of doing but now he didn't care, he wasn't afraid, not anymore.

It felt as if something had changed within his mind, this overwhelming confidence that invaded his head and usurped all traces of fear from their position as the dominant emotion in his conscience. Was this his true self, his immaturity replaced by this sense of confidence and arrogance? It might have been, but whatever it was it felt good.

Kyuubi chuckled again at Naruto's confidence, he sensed that Naruto was becoming what he was supposed to be.

**"This is what I took from you Naruto, your potential, your original mindset, and all of your original traits. Now that you are to become a ninja I am giving it back, don't ask why I did it or why I am doing this, just accept it or I'll take it back."**

"Ok so what do I do then, what now." Kyuubi let out a big sigh.

**"I have given back all there is to give, you have changed back so all there is for you to do now is wake up."**

"What but I'm already-..." his eyes then opened again, staring at his apartment's ceiling. "...-awake." Naruto rubbed his head, not even bothering to get out of his bed. "I-It was a dream? But it felt so real." Naruto sat up and placed his feet on the floor. His eyes went wide in shock. His room was a mess, he seriously needed to do some redecorating but that would have to wait for later, if his memory served today was the day he was supposed to become a ninja.

He stood up and rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes. "Damn that Kyuubi invading my dreams, why couldn't he have revealed himself to me twenty years from now or something, stupid fox."

He walked to his bathroom and closed the door, turned on the faucet and washed his face. When he brought his face back up to the mirror he jumped back in shock and let out a large yell. It was probably a yell so loud that it could be heard throughout the entire village.

"M-My eyes what the hell happened to my eyes?" His eyes had made the transition from his normal sapphire blue to a lighter bluish purple. The weird part was the tiny burst of light orange that seemed to emanate from his pupils. They were basically baby blue with an orange tint coming from the middle.

_So it wasn't a dream after all, Kyuubi really did visit me._ Naruto washed more water onto his face. Even though the shock Naruto got was great it only lasted for a couple of seconds, after he saw his eyes he wasn't all that surprised, it only lasted for about five minutes.

Naruto actually thought that his eyes felt normal, they didn't _feel_ weird they just looked weird.

_Kyuubi, not that I'm complaining but what exactly did you do to my eyes_. He delved through his mental link and found the demon fox.

**"I already told you, I given you your true self back, don't you feel it?" **Naruto shook his head. **"You will Naruto."**

"But why are you giving this back to me, you want to kill me right?"

**"Exactly right, but in order for me to get out and kill you and this village, you must become a ninja first. Don't worry this will all come together soon **(That goes for you readers too) **but by then there is nothing you will be able to do about it, so live your life to the fullest right now, while it last." **With that Kyuubi cut off their mental link.

Naruto looked down in grief for a few seconds it then sprung up with renewed vigor. "Kyuubi that's impossible, you yourself told me that it is impossible for you to get out. Dumb fox...trying to scare me, even if I become a ninja, which I will, there is nothing you can do to get out of me."

Kyuubi really did change Naruto except he just didn't know it, the old Naruto would have hated the fact that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was inside him and couldn't get out but now he looked at the atrocious concept with a hint of optimism, He saw it more like he was the person chosen to defend the village from his curse.

If this was how Naruto was originally intended to turn out then he liked it.

Naruto walked over to his closet and jumped back with disgust. What he saw was an metaphorical battlefield of orange, blue and white. His millions of jumpsuits. They were once sacred to him, now they were the most wretched things in the world.

"Damn, I can't believe that I actually liked to wear this crap." Oh well I'm going to have find some thing else to wear. Naruto frantically started to search through his mountain of former attire, he searched for a few moments until he found a box.

"Got it!" he opened it and found a matching set of black training pants and and a tight short-sleeved black jacket used for training. The jacket looked like it came down past ones hips and it could be zipped up.

"Thank you ojjisan." (He is referring to the third Hokage) If there was ever a better time for that matching training set Naruto got last year from the third Hokage...wait there was no better time for it.

Naruto ran back into the bathroom and took his bath, determined to earn his Hitae-ite.

* * *

Haruno Sakura hated walking to the academy everyday like this. She would get up, admire herself in the mirror, wash up, admire some more, dress up then admire some more. To her that part was OK but what really got to her was the fact that every morning she would run into her former best friend and all out rival in love, Yamanaka Ino.

Sakura, walked down the street timing her blond competitor's arrival.

"Three, two, one." Right as Sakura was about to pass Ino's house, the blond stepped out. Sakura let out a big sigh.

"Right on time, as usual, man why can't she be late for once?" Sakura walked passed Ino as she joined her on her walk to the academy. Both of them walking side by side as normal friends would, then again Sakura and Ino weren't exactly known as friends, more like arch-enemies. Getting annoyed by her counterpart's company Sakura decided to put a little spring her step and walk a little faster, That action was soon matched by Ino.

Sakura and Ino both let out simultaneous grunts of annoyance at each other. Both put multiple burst of speed and quickened their paces. In no time they were neck and neck with each other, practically racing down the street. This was the part that Sakura didn't like, she always ended up tired and sweaty, two things that she hated to be and two things that being a ninja would call for.

"What are you doing Ino-pig!"

"What do mean what am I doing forehead girl?" Both of them were still neck and neck, faces pressed against each other with a big veins bulging out each of their foreheads. Some foreheads were bigger than others. (SAKURA THAT BITCH!)

As both girls sped down the street both girls came to an abrupt stop when they saw quick flash of yellow and black. They saw a boy with blond hair, clad in all black fly past their faces, he was moving noticeably faster than either of them could ever move.

Both Sakura and Ino could have sworn they had seen this boy before, if he wasn't moving so fast they could properly look at his face.

Wearing confused faces both of them looked at each other at the same time.

"Was that...Naruto?"

* * *

It felt great, the wind through his hair, his noticeably better vision, the way he could effortlessly jump twenty feet in the air at will. This was what he called an upgrade, a major upgrade.

Naruto hopped rooftop to rooftop, with amazing speed. The way he was moving, it way beyond Genin level, mid Chuunin perhaps, Naruto really didn't care he just loved it. He could almost thank Kyuubi, if he wasn't the reason for Naruto not having this type of speed in the first place.

This was something he could get used to, he would have after all this was who he really is.

He paid no mind to some of the villagers yelling at him, his goal was to get to the academy and obtain his Hitae-ite and become a full fledged ninja.

"Damn this feels good, this is what speed is like huh? I fucking love this stuff!" Naruto's excitement over his recent 'upgrade' was positively through the roof, but the tone of his voice was positively everything but through the roof. It sounded cool and calm. The new Naruto.

In a few minutes Naruto made his way to the ninja academy and was walking through the hall to get to his normal classroom.

He got a little confused on the way there, every single single girl that he passed on the way to his class would either look away from his face, or giggle as they passed him. It actually started to annoy Naruto, he didn't now what the hell was going on, was something funny about him?

Naruto finally made it to his classroom, the door was open so that saved him the nuisance of having everyone stare at him when he opened it. Even so, Naruto immediately regretted walking through that door. He had completely forgotten about his recent change in facial features.

As soon as Naruto walked through the door all eyes were on him, most of them were of the females in the room and most of the females had blushes on there faces.

Naruto slowly walked into the classroom and looked around. He found the seat closest to the wall and away from everybody else. He made he way to his seat, that just so happened to be next to Sasuke, his rival and old time friend. As soon as Naruto sat down the room erupted in chatter once again.

He could hear his name being repeated by multiple females over and over, they were probably wondering why he looked the way he did.

"I win!"

"No, I win!

Sakura and Ino, came rushing in through the door, their faces were still pressed together. Sparks flew as both girls traded glances with the background changing from a normal hallway to a raging hellfire. Naruto sat at the edge of the classroom observing the usual scene that occurred every morning. He found it stupid in a lot of ways but the real reason it was stupid was the subject of these daily arguments. Sasuke Uchiha, that arrogant, pretty boy, emo bastard.

Naruto looked away from them and faced the window beside him, he needed some cover from his eyes.

"I was here first so I get to sit by Sasuke!"

"No I do, I was obviously and inch ahead of you!"

"You want to bet forehead girl?"

"Bring it Ino-pig."

Their senseless bickering attracted even more girls into the argument.

"Hold on I was here before both of you so I get to sit by Sasuke!" Soon almost every female in the room was arguing about who got to sit next to over there. Naruto continued to look out his window.

"Tch, fan girls they're all the same." The room got suddenly quiet, everybody looked at the one brave soul that dared to insult Sasuke's fan girls.

"What was that just now?" Sakura said with an evil tone. The gang of fan-girls looked in Naruto's direction.

"W-Who is that over there, you seem familiar."

"What's wrong Sakura-chan, you don't recognize me, you should, I'm made fun off on a regular basis."

"What?" Sakura looked at rest of the fan girls, hoping for an answer. They all shook their heads when she asked them if they knew who Naruto was. Naruto on the other hand kept his gaze out the window, hiding his face from view, a small smirk made its way onto his lips.

"Oh, come on Sakura-chan you know who I am."

"No I don't, so stop acting all cool and tell me who the hell you are!"

"I'm not acting Sakura-chan...believe it." Sakura's eyes went wide along with the rest of the girls. Some of them had suspicions that it was Naruto before but none of them actually believed it was him, well they did now. Just as Naruto said, they believed it.

"N-Naruto is that you?" All he gave them was a quick nod for a response.

Suddenly there were two poofs of smoke that appeared in the middle of the room. The smoke cleared revealing two men, Iruka Umino and his assistant Mizuki.(I don't really care for his last name.)

"SETTLE DOWN!" Just like in Naruto's dream the whole class was silent, even in reality Iruka's voice could get a room silent on the first try.

"Okay now all of you take your seats and let's begin." Mizuki made a ram seal and behind him and Iruka a desk with several Hitae-ites appeared via smoke cloud.

"Behind me and Iruka sensei are your goals, these headbands will be what you need to obtain to become Genin. You get one of these and you pass." Iruka took his turn once again by chiming in.

"You will all be asked to do three things, you'll have to show us your marksmanship with kunai, do a basic henge of my choice, and finally we will ask you to use the Bunshin no jutsu successfully. There are conditions though, you have to hit a bulls eye at least once, the henge is of my choice, and you have to make at least three clones. We going to start in alphabetical order, Good luck!"

Then it began, students were called one by one to show their skill. Some were better than others by Naruto's point of view. Naruto continued to stare out the window while waiting for his name to be called. He wondered how he would do, even though Kyuubi gave him his 'true self' he was never any good at this sort of thing. Hell the only jutsu he could do so far was the sexy jutsu and he knew that Iruka wouldn't let him use that.

Five minutes had passed and Naruto started to get a little nervous, one because he had to go up in front of everybody and show his recent changes and two because he never knew how to do it in the first place.

"Uchiha Sasuke, please come up." Sasuke got up and walked over to Iruka. "Ok you already know the first part of this exam, hit that training dummy over there at least once in the bulls eye." Sasuke sighed and looked over to the corner of the room where the dummy was. He sighed and with one quick motion took a kunai out of his holster and flicked it toward the dummy hitting it dead center on the bulls eye.

"Good, very good and on the first try too." Sasuke's horde of fan girls all squealed in admiration of the raven haired crush. "Settle down now. Okay now for the henge, I want you to transform yourself into me." Sasuke sighed again and did a hand sign.

"Transform!" A huge cloud of smoke appeared around Sasuke and when it cleared there stood two Irukas. Another squeal from the fan girls was heard.

"Ok now the final part of the test." Sasuke made another hand sign and in two second there were four Sasuke's.

"Great you pass, go get your Hitae-ite from Mizuki sensei." Sasuke walked pass Iruka and took his headband, he looked at it for a couple seconds the tied it on his forehead while he made his way back to his seat next to Naruto. Naruto could hear the various giggles being made by the girls in the classroom. Sasuke glanced at Naruto before fully taking his seat.

"Uzumaki Naruto..come up and no funny business ok?" Naruto stood up and walked over to Iruka.

"Oh no no Iruka sensei, those days are over, I've changed."

"I can see, got tired of orange huh?" Naruto chuckled. "Naruto, hm, I always thought that your eyes were just blue, I must be getting old. You know what to do." Naruto looked in the direction of of the dummy, which no longer had Sasuke's Kunai lodged in it.

He steeled himself and took out a kunai. 'Okay Kyuubi let's see who I really am.' He threw his kunai with unexpected force and it flew straight at the dummy lodging itself deeper in than Sasuke's had, almost going threw it. The whole room instantly was filled with whispers and gasps of shock,

"W-Well done Naruto, o-ok now for the henge, transform yourself into...our Hokage." Naruto made a hand sign.

"Transform." Naruto said in a calm tone. Soon, in place of Naruto stood the third Hokage, in full robes. Everyone in the room was wide eyed, the fact that Naruto could do a jutsu so easily that most of them had trouble doing was very surprising. More whispers came from the classroom.

"O-Outstanding Naruto, let's see if you can get this one down I want you to make at least three clones using the Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto did the proper hand sing. This was the moment of truth, everyone was looking at him, if he messed up on this jutsu he would be forced to uphold his reputation as Naruto, the knuckled headed loser who can't even make a clone.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto poured in a large amount of chakra into this jutsu, his chakra flared and in a huge plume of smoke there were ten Naruto's standing in the front of the room.

Everyone in the room gasped, Naruto looked around thinking that he had messed up. When he saw nine other Naruto's he was relieved.

"A-Amazing, simply amazing Naruto, go on, go on and get your hitae-ote, you deserve it!" The small murmurs and whispers increased even more.

"Whoa!"

"Since when was Naruto able to do that?"

"Those clothes make him look kind of cool." Naruto savored these comments, they were never for him before.

He grabbed his Hitae-ite and walked back to his seat next to Sasuke but before sitting down he gave Sasuke the same glance that Sasuke had given him a few moments ago.

"W-Well I guess that concludes the exam, all of you pass, congratulations!" The whole class let out a loud yell of victory, well except Naruto and Sasuke.

"Ok, now that you've all passed you may have a lunch break. Dismissed. Make sure you come back though this isn't over." Naruto stood up and walked out of the classroom with Sasuke followed shortly behind. Everyone watched as the lone Uchiha and the new cooler Uzumaki walked out followed by a gang of fan girls.

Naruto had forgotten to eat breakfast and he didn't even bring something edible with him. He was so pumped up at the thought of getting his headband, which was now currently tied loosely around his neck, that he had forgotten to eat.

Thoughts of what had transpired earlier ran through Naruto's head, that feeling of power that he never once had before, the amount of chakra that flowed through him when he used the Bunshin no Jutsu. That was real power and it was his power.

Naruto needed to find a good place to just think, since he had no food with him for lunch. He had the perfect place in mind. That old tree with the swing in the front of the academy, it was another one of his sanctuaries.

In less then five minutes Naruto was at his own little abode of solitude. He jumped onto a branch sprawling out on it.

"Man that was the best. I didn't even know I had that much power." Naruto brought his hand in front of his face and stared at it. "I looked so cool back there."

**"Right Naruto, you looked cool." **Kyuubi said in a very sarcastic way that Naruto didn't miss.

"Shut up Kyuubi. By the way how is it that I have this much power, did you do something."

**"No, you idiot I already told you this is all your power, when you were a baby I infused your infant body with a minuscule amount of my chakra. In doing this I sealed away part of your chakra reserves, making you virtually weaker. I thought that if you were so weak you would die easier and I could get out, unfortunately for me, if you die I die. I needed to come up with another way and if you die too early I might not have enough time to figure out a way out, so I unsealed that part of you."**

"Okay I get that but why is it that I have this much chakra?"

**"Naruto do you remember that feeling you got every time you trained, the feeling that you weren't getting any stronger?"**Naruto gave Kyuubi a mental nod. **"Well you were, it's just that every time you got stronger your new chakra would form in the part of you that was sealed away and kept growing with the rest of your body. And on top of that you were, excluding my chakra you were born with extremely large chakra reserves so all of that chakra came together."**

Naruto stayed silent for a few seconds, he then responded. "So the reason I never got any stronger was because of you...Kyuubi you suck."

Naruto heard the faint sound of Kyuubi's chuckle as it faded away and resided back into the depths on his conscience. The next sound Naruto heard was a voice from below, not Kyuubi's though, this voice was human.

"Hey dobe, stop talking to yourself in that tree and get down here." Naruto glanced recognized the voice and he didn't really feel like hearing it right now. Naruto stayed in his slouched position on the branch and answered the voice back with a loud sigh.

"What teme, what do you want?"

"I want to ask you something, so get down here."

"Why don't you come up here and ask me?" Naruto then heard the voices of females, those voices didn't sound to happy either.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun wants to ask you something, you should be glad that he's even talking to you, so get down here now!" This female voice was accompanied by others all wanting to get Naruto from the tree. Not wanting to cause a further ruckus Naruto slid off the branch and landed in right in front of Sasuke. He looked him straight in the eye. Sasuke's eyes widened when he caught a glimpse of Naruto's new upgrade.

"What the hell is wrong with your eyes, weren't they always just blue?" Naruto glared at Sasuke and Sasuke returned his glare.

"No, they were always like this, you just didn't look hard enough."

"Hey don't you glare at Sasuke-kun like that!" Once again Sakura opened her mouth from the sidelines to defend her crush. Naruto took his glare away from Sasuke and directed it at Sakura. He was pleased when he saw her gasp and back away from him, only to shrink into the back of the mob of fan girls. Her gasp wasn't the only one to be heard, it seemed like as soon a Naruto glanced toward their direction Sasuke's faithful fan girls suddenly got quiet.

With a smile Naruto brought his glare back to Sasuke, making him flinch a little as well.

"So, what do you care about eyes for anyway, what are you gay?" Sasuke's expression got really tense at Naruto's rude comment, not to mention the fact that his cheerleaders were basically set on fire when they heard it. With the blushes and the yelling, and the...oh ya know what I mean. (No Bill Cosby reenactment intended there)

"Hey you want to fight Naruto, just because you passed the test doesn't mean that your better than me. I can still kick your loser ass!"

"Alright let's go then, I show you who's the real loser, you and your pathetic cheer leading squad over there!" Naruto said while pointing to Sasuke's fan girls. He gave them one last glare just to spook them all.

"Naruto!" Sasuke threw a wild right hook Naruto dodged quite easily, it was almost like his fist was moving in slow motion. He shrunk back and delivered a strong punch to Sasuke's gut sending him stumbling backwards.

Sasuke charged once again throwing out a flurry of precise punches. Naruto did no better but to dodge them, all except the last one, which caught Naruto in the face, sending him flying into the tree he had once rested on.

"Teme, is that all you got?" Sasuke got angry again and charged Naruto again, he jumped up and came down with a hard vertical kick.

_I can see it!_ Naruto thought to himself. In a second Sasuke was right above him. Naruto saw everything clearly.

"You're so slow, teme." Naruto caught Sasuke's leg with one hand, he then slammed him into the tree behind him with all his might. He then flung Sasuke ten feet away from him, putting him in a temporary daze.

Sasuke tried to get up but was pushed back down by Naruto's foot on his back.

"Hey teme, just because I seemed weak before doesn't mean that I am." Sasuke turned just far enough to look at Naruto, who had already began to walk away.

_Oh yeah I looked so cool, that should teach that bastard a lesson._ Naruto thought to himself as he began to walk back into the academy.

"Naruto, don't you dare underestimate me!" Sasuke charged at Naruto for the final time hoping to catch him off guard, a very desperate move indeed.

"I didn't, I just overestimated you!" Naruto spun around and plowed his fist directly into Sasuke's face making him thrust backwards into that same tree. Naruto gave one final huff before walking back inside the academy. He could hear the screams of worry and fear coming from the girls as they all rushed the wounds of their raven haired lover boy.

* * *

"Let's see, who's missing...ah Uchiha Sasuke, does anyone know where Sasuke is?"

"Right here." Sasuke walked through the doors of the classroom...limping and bruised. He was followed in by his loyal fan girls who all had empathetic looks on their faces.

"Right on time Sa-...Hey what happened to your face"

Sasuke glanced toward the direction of a certain blond for a second and turned his gaze back on Iruka.

"Nothing Iruka sensei...I fell." Almost everyone in the class face faulted at this, well except for Naruto.

"Ok, I know that's not what happened but still, take your seat, I want to finish this." Sasuke took a seat at the far corner of the room, the complete opposite of Naruto's seat. His follower's also took their original seats, but not before giving Naruto their own glares.

"Alright...we were going to do this tomorrow but something has come up..so instead of tomorrow, you will be meeting your new senseis today."

"New sensei?" The whole class screamed out, exempt a few people.

"Yep, now that you're all Genin I'm no longer your instructor." Iruka laughed and scratched the back of his head in a very pre-upgrade Naruto way. "Well I'll begin with the names of the teams selected."

"Team seven: Haruno Sakura...Uchiha Sasuke-..." Sakura jumped up in joy letting out a loud 'yesss' to taunt the other girls in the class who had the misfortune on not being on Sasuke's team. "-...And Uzumaki Naruto. Your jounin instructor is Htake Kakashi." Sakura's eyes cracked wide open, her head slouched down in disappointment.

"No, why do I have to be with him?" She said in a defeated tone. Naruto just sighed and Sasuke just brooded.

"Ok ok sit down Sakura. Team eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, Your Jounin instructor is Yuuhi Kurenai."

"Team ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji, your Jounin is Sarutobi Asuma. Now those three teams report to the the classroom next door to meet your instructors." Naruto stood up and walked out of the room before anyone else, eager to meet his new instructor. Iruka then continued to name the teams.

* * *

"Where the hell is he? Everyone else got to meet their instructor by know, what about us, we're sitting in a stupid classroom all by our lonesome!"

Sakura paced back and forth as she ranted on and on about how their instructor was so late. Naruto had to agree with her, it was really annoying but then again so was she. Actually Naruto didn't know why he thought of Sakura as annoying. Before his recent changes, his thoughts about Sakura were anything but annoying. He was practically in love with her but now he just didn't feel it anymore. Her loud and abusive ways that Naruto thought made her look hot, now made her look like a real bitch... guess he did know after all.

Naruto got up and walked over by the window, Sakura noticed this and stopped her ranting. She wasn't going to miss this chance, somehow Naruto had gotten stronger and cooler in her eyes, this was the perfect chance to ask him what happened.

Sakura trotted up to Naruto's side. She knew of his crush on her and if she would have to use that to find out then she would.

"Um, Naruto-kun how come you-..."

"Naruto-kun? Since when am I Naruto-kun?"

"N-No I just wanted to ask how you got so strong and what's with the cool clothes."

"Sakura-chan, I figured out who I was." Naruto said monotonously.

"Wha-..What does that mean...probably nothing."

Naruto turned around and gave her a glare, making her jump back again. He 'hmphed' and turned around.

"Well since you guys are the only one here I guess you're mine." All three Genin turned to face the adult voice. They saw a Silver haired, one-eyed man standing at the door. He wore a mask that only covered his mouth and nose and his Hitae-ite was slung over his left eye covering it completely. He wore a standard Jounin vest, signifying his rank.

"Meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that the cyclopean Jounin poofed out of the room.

"W-Who was that guy?" Sakura said

"Isn't it obvious, he's our new sensei." Naruto said as he walked past her. He was soon followed by Sasuke and wherever Sasuke went Sakura was sure to follow.

(Five minutes later)

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all sat in front of their new sensei. They looked at him perplexed by his weird appearance.

"Alright, first introductions. Tell me some things about you, you know what you like, what you hate, and you goals for the future, things like that.

"How about you demonstrate so we know what to do." Sakura said

"Ok, My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like a lot of things, I don't really hate a lot of things either and as for future goals...I don't really fell like telling you that. Now you go."

"All we found out was your name."

"Yup, now you try pinky."

"OK my name is Haruno Sakura, what I like..I mean who I like is-..." Sakura cut herself off with a series of giggles and glances at Sasuke. "-...My goals for the future are-.." again she cut herself off. "Who I hate is...Naruto." She gave him an angry glare. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and flicked her off.

"Ok, you in the middle."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, What I want is revenge, I hate a lot of things and my future goal is to gain power in hopes of killing a certain someone." Sakura stared at him with a look that said 'he's so hot'.

"Ok, you Blondie, tell me about yourself." Naruto began.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like..." Naruto paused for a moment, after his recent change he really didn't know what it was that he liked anymore. "-...To train. I hate people who treat others badly without knowledge of that person, and my goal is to gain enough power to show everyone in this village who I truly am."

Kakashi scratched his chin. "So If I'm correct I got a fangirl, an avenger, and...I don't know what to call you, you're sort of an enigma...great. Anyway it's time for your first assignment, meet me on the training grounds tomorrow at daybreak, come prepared with all your ninja gear, you'll need it. Oh and Tomorrow, don't eat breakfast or you might puke."

With that Kakashi poofed out of vision, leaving the three rookie Genin to contemplate on what he meant.

* * *

Finally done...you know I'm so freakin pissed off. After this file got accidentally deleted, I had to right it again, but guess what It gets deleted again...what the hell. I couldn't even remember what it was that I wrote. Whatever it was I know that it was better then what I wrote now.

Anger aside, I hope you liked this chapter...this is my first fic with Naruto having a Kekkei Genkai so tell what you found wrong and if you want, things that you found right. Oh yeah and don't tell me that I didn't tell what the Kekkei genkai is..I already know that.

Read and review

Next Chapter:

The the sacred mark and the test of bells.


	2. The sacred mark and the test of bells

Hey Grim here, second chap of this story is out. If you felt that the wait was too long long...well...to bad assholes. Anyways we already know about Kakashi's bell test and all, you know teamwork, support, if you fail you'll be sent back to the academy...blah blah blah. Yeah I'm going to make Kakashi's bell test a little more actiony then I had actually intended, a slight turn of events if ya know what I mean.

This chapter will deal with Naruto's actually fighting ability when it is put up against someone of Kakashi's caliber, and maybe a little talk with the Kyuubi. He might even learn some new skills, tree climbing, chakra control maybe even a new/old jutsu or two. You have to read to find out though.

Enjoy mutha fuckas, or I'll find you.

* * *

Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

It continues, It's tested, It's charges.

Naruto hopped through the tree tops at break neck speed. Elegantly steeping from branch to branch as he pursued his target. He hoped that he would make it in time, to stop his target. With one goal in mind he charged forward.

"Damn him, acting all nice to us then betraying us without a moment's notice. How could he do that, and he stole the forbidden scroll of sealing too, damn that Mizuki, I should have known he was a good for nothing traitor.

Naruto had recently found out that Mizuki, Iruka's former assistant had stolen the forbidden scroll of seal from the Konoha Jutsu archive. Naruto really wasn't supposed to find out about this but he had been there when some random jounin had come crashing through the doors of the Sandaime's office, announcing that Mizuki had just stolen the scroll of sealing.

It was a possible chance for Naruto to further test his ability, so he jumped into action. That's how he ended up where he is now, hopping the trees at approximately eleven o' clock at night while searching for that son of a bitch named Mizuki...Mizuki...Come to think of it Naruto never really knew Mizuki's last name and now he didn't care.

As Naruto searched through the forest with enraged speed he could hear something, but it wasn't outside it was inside, he knew who it was. Naruto stopped on a large stable branch and rested for a while.

"What do you want Kyuubi, can't you see that I'm trying to find Mizuki?"

**"Oh, then I guess you don't want my help then you twit." **Naruto scoffed at the idea of getting help from a fox, even if it was a gigantic demon lord.

"...What help are you going to give me?" Kyuubi chuckled that chuckle that always rattled the inside of Naruto's head.

**"There we go, now what I want to show is a basic technique. It is used by many hunter nin. All it is the minor application of chakra to enhance the body's senses. Go try it, pump a little chakra to your ears." **

Naruto did as he was told and sent a surge of chakra to his ears. He reeled back in an instant, the sudden enhancement of his hearing overwhelmed him, he nearly fell of of the branch he was on. Everything just went from normal to like, triple surround sound.

**"I told you only _little _****chakra was needed, lessen up your flow." **With that Kyuubi's voice died out in Naruto's head. He lessened his chakra flow to his ears and suddenly the triple surround sound just became, slightly amplified. With his new found ability Naruto concentrated and listened to the sounds around him.

He heard, the birds, the bugs, the wind blowing past his face, random animals that scurried on the ground below, but what caught his attention were the small explosive burst that seemed to occur every five seconds.

"W-What is that, metal hitting against metal. Kunai maybe, sounds like a battle is going on." Naruto stood up on the branch and set a course for the location of the battle.

Naruto once again started traveling with the pace he was going at once before. After five minutes of fast paced tree hopping the sounds grew louder. He was definitely sure that there was a fight going on and by what he could hear there were only two people fighting. One of them had to be Mizuki, the other he wasn't too sure of.

"Damn where, the hell is that bastard...wait what the hell?" Naruto saw two men, one of them was on a tree branch with a scroll in his hand, Mizuki. The other one was on the forest floor and he was bloody. Naruto's eyes widened when he realized who is was...his former teacher and surrogate father Iruka Umino.

"Give it up Iruka, you can't beat me, I'm stronger than you. I'm going to take this scroll!." Mizuki gave a sinister chuckle, that sent a chill through Iruka's heavily damaged spine, Which currently had a fuma shuriken sticking out of it.

"Why, why Mizuki why are you doing this, betraying Konoha will only come back to hurt you in the end!"

"Hah! Iruka how stupid can you be, do you really think that I give a rat's ass about this village? There's only one thing that I want in this world and that is power, and there's know here right who can stop me from attaining it!"

You mind saying that again?" Mizuki's neck hair stood on end, that voice just came out of nowhere and scared the crap out of him. He was confused as to who the hell it was.

"Who said that?-..." Mizuki continued to look around for any signs of the unknown voice but who's ever it was, they sounded like a kid. "Show yourself!" Mizuki commanded.

"Fine!" Mizuki could only duck as he sensed two Kunai being thrown from behind. He narrowly escaped the attack as he could feel the cold metal of a kunai brush his head, cutting a little hair in the process.

"If you want me you got me Mizuki sensei." Mizuki turned and was face to face with a familiar blond, but what he wasn't familiar with was his fist hitting his face.

Naruto delivered a full power punch to Mizuki's face, sending him flying but before he could finish his diagonal descent Naruto grabbed the last of Mizuki's fuma shuriken from his back and with a vertical thrust, threw the giant weapon at Mizuki, pinning him to a tree trunk below.

"Naruto-kun what are you doing here?" Said a badly damaged Iruka. Naruto jumped down from the branch and landed in front of Iruka. He was currently holding the scroll Mizuki was holding before he decked him.

"Isn't it obvious I'm here to stop Mizuki and to help you."

"But how did.. you."

"Element of surprise Iruka sensei, that's how I beat him so easily." Iruka sensei looked at Naruto with pride, he was proud of how much the boy had grown, he was even able to take on a chunin with no problem at all.

Naruto looked in the direction that Mizuki was. He walked over to the currently immobilized chuunin and looked him dead in the eye.

His head swayed limply and Naruto saw no movement in him, he presume that he was dead. Naruto turned to walk back over to Iruka but was stopped when he felt a hand grab the back of his jacket.

"You son of a bitch, I'll kill you!" Naruto turned his head to find Mizuki's arm clinging on to his jacket.

"Hmph, you still alive? I thought you were dead." Mizuki growled and coughed up some blood mid growl. His grip loosened allowing Naruto to smack his hand away from his new clothes. "Don't touch, these are new."

Mizuki snarled through clenched teeth. "Curse you demon!" That was the breaking point Naruto instantly grew angry at the word demon, he had heard it so many times in his life and he was tired of that shit. Naruto decided that he was going to toy with the traitor for a while, play dumb.

"Demon...did you just call me a demon?"

"Mizuki spit up another round of blood. "That's right you little brat, you're a demon!" Naruto could hear Iruka's breathing grow heavy in the background, what he had anticipated.

"Mizuki no, he's too young for that!" Iruka yelled.

"Shut up you fool, I don't care! Naruto, do you know the reason you were always looked upon with hate?" Naruto kept his innocent boy charade and slowly shook his head no

"Do you remember the nine tailed fox that attacked Konoha twelve years ago?" Naruto shook his head yes.

"Well Naruto, the reason everybody hates you is because-..."

"No Mizuki, don't do it!"

"The Kyuubi no Kitsune was sealed inside of you!"

Naruto faked a shocked expression and began to shrink back.

"How's it feel Naruto, to know that the most hated natural being is inside of you?" Mizuki wore a psychotic smile of satisfaction, but it soon faded away when he saw Naruto smile. He heard the young Genin start to snicker.

"What the hell is so funny, you're a demon and you think that's funny?"

Naruto hung his head down, his eyes covered by his unruly bush he called hair. "How stupid do think I am, Mizuki sensei? I'm _not_ the same oblivious boy that I was before, I never was!"

Naruto raised his head and looked Mizuki straight in the eye. "That's old news Mizuki! Guess what, I've known about the fox since I was six years old! Actually I don't really mind him residing within me, as long as he doesn't try anything that is!

**"Not a chance Naruto."**

_Shut up Kyuubi._

Naruto saw the expression on Mizuki's face, simply priceless. He saw Iruka's expression, it was almost as rich as Mizuki's.

"Naruto-kun how did you know? Iruka asked in a shocked tone.

"Well let's just say that the minds of the innocent wonder way too much." Naruto said with a smile. His smile faded as he turned back to Mizuki.

"Now is there anything else you want to say Mizuki?" Mizuki just growled in defeat.

"Damn you, you demon br..at...ugh." Mizuki passed out when Naruto gave him a solid jab to the gut, being careful not to stab his hand on the fuma shuriken protruding from his stomach.

"Hm, you're the real demon here Mizuki, an oni only betrays his kind." Naruto walked away from Mizuki and went to Iruka's aid.

"Naruto-kun how did you get so strong?"

"Training I guess." An obvious lie on his part, but not so much a lie that it wasn't true.

"Iruka sensei, can I ask a favor of you?" Iruka gave him a weak nod. "Good, Iruka can you not tell anyone of this little episode we had here. If they asked what happened just tell them that you beat Mizuki, but if they ask for the scroll tell them that you gave it to a Jounin to return back to the archives and he said he would send for help."

Iruka raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Why would they ask about the scroll, wouldn't I have it with-..? Iruka stopped when he saw Naruto pick up the scroll of sealing. "Wait what are you doing with that scroll Naruto-kun?"

"I knew I could trust you Iruka sensei." Naruto said as he jumped onto a high branch. "Remember I was never here!" With that Naruto jumped away heading towards who knows where.

* * *

As he jumped through the tree tops he began to think to himself.

_I know what I'm doing is wrong, but if I'm going to get any stronger I will need this for a couple hours. Besides I don't even have any good jutsu sleeve._ Naruto unraveled the scroll in front of him whil tree hopping and began to search for any useful jutsu he could find.

_Hmm, what's this...Kage bunshin no jutsu, this could be a long night._

Sarutobi stared with pride at his crystal ball. The young Genin who he had just seen take down Mizuki made him smile contently. It made him so proud that he didn't even seem to care that the young boy was looking at a scroll filled up with techniques that were chuunin level at the least.

"Naruto you have done well, very well indeed."

Sarutobi waved his hand over the crystal ball twice and the sight of Naruto jumping through the trees while reading the scroll faded away.

The old hokage then walked away.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a reluctant groan. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked at his surroundings, what he expected to see was his bedroom ceiling, what he did see were the trees and the sky. Birds flew above and bugs all over the place. He leaned over to his left but his eyes widened when he felt nothing underneath his left shoulder holding him up.

He slipped and careened down to the floor. He hit the soft forest soil with a dull thump.

"Owww! OH Kami, damnit!" Naruto got up, now in a bad mood from falling off a branch thiry feet in the air. He stood up while rubbing his sore left shoulder. "Damn this is going to hurt for a while."

Naruto looked up for at the canopy for a few seconds and took in a deep breath, he closed his eyes. They snapped back open immediately.

"Oh crap that's right, the training grounds I was supposed to be there at daybreak!" Naruto looked up at the sky, he presumed that it was around eight fifty judging by the sun's position. "I'm going to be late, damn!" Naruto hopped back on the same branch he fell off of. Put his foot on the tree trunk and began to walk up the tree.

I bet you didn't know that Naruto could do that. What did you think he was doing in the woods with that scroll? Naruto spent most of the night learning new jutsu from the scroll of sealing, tree climbing was just another skill that came with it. Come to think of it were was the damned scroll, Naruto really didn't care.

"Naruto walked to the top of the tree, which just so happened to be taller than all the others, and looked around. After a few seconds of searching he found the big green patch of land that was the training grounds.

"Wow, that scroll really helped without it I wouldn't even know how to do this handy tree climbing crap." Naruto jumped of the treetop and onto a lower branch, he then began hopping from branch to branch in the direction of the Training grounds.

'Hey Kyuubi why didn't you wake me up?"

**"Well you were up all night learning jutsu from t hat stupid scroll, what the hell do you think I'm here for?" **

'An alarm clock, which you obviously can't be.'

**"Shut up, your lucky I can't come out there and kill you."**

Naruto's body seemed to go on auto pilot he was still tree hopping but his attention was brought fully on Kyuubi. 'Kyuubi, I have question to ask. How is it that I'm able to learn all this stuff so easily, I mean I learned those techniques in the scroll overnight like it was nothing.'

Naruto paused and waited for Kyuubi to respond.

**"Naruto, I told you that when you were an infant I sealed away your part of your chakra, the unnaturally large amount of chakra you were born with. As you put your body through extreme training to increase your strength the seal I gave you took some of that power away. That's why you didn't see any results, while you grew the restrictions of your seal grew as well.**

**"Plus, the fact of the seal putting so many restrictions on your body was so great that your body naturally adjusted to the hindrances of the seal. Your chakra did the same as well, as it grew with your body it was being stressed to a point that your chakra control didn't show up pass what you originally had. With both your body and chakra adjusting to the restrictions of the seal you yourself gained a way to chakra control. Since your body was way too used to constantly adjusting to the seal, things such as controlling your chakra after I took the seal off became virtually effortless to you." **

**"So something like learning how to tree climb would only take an hour or two. If you keep training the seal will eventually fully go away."**

'_Damn so basically what you said is that I was born awesome and when you put the seal on me my awesome body worked around it, making my body and chakra even more awesome then they already were?_'

Naruto mentally chuckled when he didn't hear Kyuubi's response.

Naruto took his body off of auto-pilot and resumed control. He noticed that he had just come out of the forest and onto the training grounds. He sighed from the relief of not having to jumped through all those branches.

He looked over to a large tree in the middle of the grounds and noticed that his team was under it. He thought that it would be funny to trick them. With his crazy speed he made a break for the tree and without so much as a sound he jumped into the tree and landed in a branch a little bit above Sasuke's head.

"Am I too late?" Sasuke jumped up and away from the tree he was under, he looked completely freaked out like he had just seen a ghost.

"What the hell was that, who's in that tree?" Naruto fell backwards and hung upside down from the branch he was on.

"Don't you recognize my voice Sasuke, Na...ru...to?" Sakura who was behind Sasuke and looked equally as freaked out frowned at Naruto.

"Naruto, don't you go scaring people like that! You almost scared Sasuke to death!"

"Naruto? I thought I was Naruto-kun yesterday." Sakura's facial expression went from angry to ashamed in seconds, she remembered how she tried to sweet talk Naruto into telling her about his changes the day before.

"Never mind." Sakura said in a low tone. Naruto turned his attention once again to Sasuke, who had walked right up to his face and was currently a few inches apart from. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger.

"What the hell is your problem Naruto, you're becoming really annoying you know." Naruto stared Sasuke right back in the face.

"What's my problem, what the hell is your problem?" Then Naruto remembered something. "Oh I see you're still mad about losing to me." Naruto said arrogantly causing Sasuke to growl and grab Naruto by his jacket collar out of anger.

"That was luck Naruto, next time we fight I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Oh and is that a promise Sasuke, 'cause I can show you right here and right now who's ass is going to get kicked or do prefer to fight in private now, you know I don't want you to look bad in front of your fan girl over there." Naruto said while throwing a quick glance at Sakura, making her flinch.

"Naruto!" Sasuke's voice had now elevated to the point of yelling. "If you want to fight me again then let's go right here, right now dobe!"

"Hah, don't act like you can win, teme." Naruto responded with an ever stoic tone that made Sasuke's blood boil. "Now let go of jacket, it's new." Naruto smacked Sasuke's hand away from his collar.

"That'll be enough from the both of you." Sasuke and Sakura jumped at the familiar voice, Naruto just stayed as he was. They all turned to face the man who spoke.

"Get down from that tree Naruto it's time to begin."

"What, Kakashi sensei, when did you get here? And you're four hours late by the way!" Sakura's tone was nothing but happy. If there was one thing she hated more than Naruto it was waiting and now she couldn't stand Naruto.

"Oh sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path so I took the long way here."

"That's a terrible excuse Kakashi."

"Anyway today I told you to meet me here and be fully prepared for a battle. The reason I told you this is because I want to test you all."

"Kakashi sensei we already took the test to become Genin so what else is there to take?" Sakura asked.

"Right you are Sakura, but this is the real test on whether or not you guys become actual Genin, If you fail this you will be sent back to the academy will have to do a whole year of the same thing just to get back to where you are now. Sakura's mouth gaped and Sasuke's eye twitched, Naruto dropped down from his tree and landed on his feet.

"So you're saying this test is a pass or fail."

"Exactly Naruto, you get it, now let me explain the gist of this test." Kakashi pulled out two bells. "These bells are your goals, you are to get these bells away from me in the time allotted. You have until noon to get them." He then took out a book and, that seemed a little mature for someone of Naruto's age and began to read, He reach into his pocket once more and pulled out a buzz timer, winded it and set it to ring at noon, then brought his attention back to his porn. He looked up from his trusty porn and said.

"Oh and one more thing, after I say begin you better come at me with the intent to kill or you'll never pass this test, which only has a thirty percent chance off success." Kakashi then placed the timer in the ground.

"Begin!" With that Sasuke and Sakura jumped into the tree for cover. Naruto on the other hand stayed in his original position.

"Hm, taking a Jounin on alone, do you really think that you can get these bells from me?"

"No." Naruto stood for a second and a second later Naruto took out a kunai and flung it at Kakashi, which he caught with ease. "-..but it doesn't hurt to try!" Naruto sped off to the left and came in at Kakashi.

"He fast!" Even though Kakashi didn't have any trouble keeping up with Naruto's sudden movement he had to admit the kid did catch him off guard.

Naruto ran in and threw a punch Kakashi's way. He blocked it with one hand and used his other to defend his ichha ichha paradise novel. Kakashi grabbed onto to the blond Genin's fist and flung him up in the air. Naruto retorted with several spins into an axe kick from the sky. Kakashi grabbed his foot and flung him several feet away from him.

"Naruto is that the best you can do?" Kakashi teased.

Naruto flipped and landed on his feet. "I guess it's time to pull this one out." Naruto took out a another kunai and tossed it at Kakashi, who caught it once again. This time Kakashi's eyes widened when he realized that the kunai had and explosive note on it.

"Damn I let my guard down!" The kunai exploded taking Kakashi in as well.

"Got him he's not so-...!" Naruto froze when he felt a presence behind him. He turned his head slightly and saw Kakashi's crouched figure going through a series of hand signs.

"What the hell?"

* * *

Sasuke was pissed off now, he couldn't take much more of Naruto's crap. If he let that little punk show him up anymore, people might actually start to think Naruto was stronger than him.

"Damn that Naruto what the hell is thinking, going one on one with a Jounin."

"Uh, Sasuke-kun are you ok? You seemed worried about Naruto." Sakura who had followed him from the beginning of the bell test was right next to him. They were both in a prone position watching Naruto's fight with Kakashi.

"Tch, I'm not worried about him one bit, that fool." Sakura thought it was a good time to woo Sasuke by agreeing with him, she wanted to get on his good side, no matter what it took.

"Yeah, you're right Sasuke-kun, Naruto's such an idiot, who does he think his is going up against Kakashi sensei?" Sasuke took his attention from the fight and brought it toward Sakura, he gave her a death glare making her stare into his eyes. That would have been good for Sakura if Sasuke's eyes hadn't been so cold.

"You don't know anything do you Sakura?" Sakura let out the a gasp that one might compare to that of a scared puppy.

"But...you just said...that he was...a fool...right Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke took his glare back to the fight, relieving her heart a bit, but she could still feel Sasuke's eyes on her.

"Of course I said he was a fool, but you're even more of a fool. Let me ask you, what do you think this whole test is really about?"

"Kakashi said that it was-..." Sakura was cut off by Sasuke putting his hand over her mouth, she was at least decent enough to blush at that. Her words died out as muffles under Sasuke's hand.

"Stop talking. Sure that's what Kakashi said, but don't you know what he meant?" Sakura shook her head an forced out a muffled "no".

"It's obvious that this stupid test is to utilize our teamwork, were put in groups of three as Genin, not one, we are to work as a team...that's what Kakashi wanted to test us on." Sakura shook her head up and down this time, indicating that she understood.

"I think Naruto already knows this though, I think that he is trying to send us a message, more like he's the one testing us, that dobe. Hmph that fool wants to send us silent messages then I say fuck him, he should learn to talk...that asshole." Sasuke got up from his prone position and crouched, just enough that he could remain upright but still be hidden in the underbrush. As he watched Sasuke's eyes widened at what Kakashi was doing.

"What the hell, those hand seals...t-tiger, that hand seal is only used for jutsu that can kill a person." Sakura pulled Sasuke's hand away from her mouth.

"Wait, Kakashi's going to...kill Naruto, I don't like him either but killing him's taking it to far!" Sakura looked in Sasuke's direction.

"Sasuke-kun, where are you going?"

"Stupid, I'm going out there to help that fool." Sasuke reered up and jumped up into a tree.

"What the hell?" Naruto said as he looked his sensei, finish going through hand seals.

"Naruto, you shouldn't be so cocky you know." Naruto smirked.

"Bite me Kakashi sensei."

"I'd rather do this! Ultimate technique, Ninja art: One thousand years of death!" Kakashi kept his both hands in the tiger seal formation and thrusted them both foward, aimed at...Naruto's ass!

"Shit!" Naruto said.

"You're finished...Kakashi sensei!" Kakashi looked up as he heard a certain baritone voice from above. He saw a flash of blue, that was all he could see before he had to jump back to avoid a hard heel drop aimed at his head. Kakashi eye smiled when he saw who it was.

"Sasuke-kun, you're here too? Are you just as reckless as Naruto, or do actually have something up you're sleeve?"

Sasuke who had just jumped out of the tree to block Naruto, from a very very un-masculine 'death'.

"Naruto turned and faced both Kakashi and Sasuke. "Hm, seems like you understood what I was trying to say, maybe we can work together."

Sasuke turned and faced Naruto. "Not a chance dobe."

"Hmph, like I needed it, Its not like I was in trouble or anything."

"That's not what it looked like to me, dobe." Naruto's eyes got serious all of a sudden, he took his eyes of off Sasuke and put them back on Kakashi.

"Enough talk, if you want to help me then help." With that Naruto ran past ran past Sasuke, passing the Uchiha without him ever knowing. Sasuke felt a sudden gust of wind and before he knew it Naruto had already ran past him and was headed for Kakashi.

Kakashi waited as Naruto came in, he was fast, but to Kakashi he seemed to be moving at the normal speed a Genin would possess. Naruto took out a kunai and flung it a Kakashi's head, which Kakashi dodged by moving his head to the side. In a second Naruto was on him, the blond boy attempted a right hook to Kakashi's face but failed when Kakashi jumped back to avoid it.

Naruto followed by a low spinning sweep kick, when Kakashi jumped over that Naruto rose a little, making it a reverse roundhouse to Kakashi's face. Kakashi blocked and grabbed Naruto's leg and flung him into the air like he did before, right above his head.

"That won't cut it this time Kakashi sensei!" Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out several shuriken which he flung at Kakashi below. Kakashi pulled out a kunai and blocked them all as soon as they came.

"Amazing Kakashi sensei, but you shouldn't worry about my shuriken!"

"What?" Kakashi said as he looked down from Naruto and turned his vision on in front of him. All he saw was Sasuke's foot coming at his face. He blocked his kick but was surprised when Sasuke spun around and made a grab for his bells.

"Not today!" Kakashi said as he punched Sasuke in his stomach, properly knocking the wind out of him for a second.

Kakashi fully spun around and was now behind Sasuke, he was about to strike but stopped when he saw something flashing in front of Naruto, it looked like metal coming his way.

"More kunai, how academy student-like." Kakashi's eyes widened though when he saw who threw it, he was expecting it to be Sakura, he got a big surprise he saw Naruto standing upside down on a tree branch, smiling.

" A clone?" Kakashi said.

" A shadow clone, to be exact!" Yelled the Naruto who was in the air. Kakashi's eyes widened, he was stupefied at the fact that a mere Genin could use a Jounin level technique.

"But how can you use such a jutsu?"

"Don't forget about me!" Kakashi snapped back to reality, when saw Sasuke, who in some point in time caught the kunai thrown by Naruto, turn around and slash him with the kunai, he even managed to draw a little bit of blood. Kakashi jumped back to avoid any further damage.

"Go to hell Kakashi!" Kakashi looked up again and saw the real Naruto's black clothing coming down at him. Kakashi did another back jump to escape a deadly elbow from the sky. He was know far behind both Naruto and Sasuke.

'_These kids are really keeping me on my toes, it seems like they get the point of this test...well except for Sakura it so sad what love can do to a girl.'_ At that moment when Kakashi was in mid-jump he heard a voice, that sounded particularly feminine.

"I got you!" Kakashi turned around only to be greeted by Sakura's leg in his gut.

'_I spoke to soon...damn this girl is strong._' Kakashi was sent flying back in the direction of Naruto and Sasuke, Sasuke decided to take action.

"Naruto move out the way!" he said as he began to make hand seals. Naruto jumped away to the side making the same hand seal as Sasuke.

"I wasn't expecting you Sakura-chan but thanks." Sakura just smiled and waved, but she looked slightly scared for some reason.

"Naruto how do you-..."

"Don't ask!" Naruto said as he cut Sasuke off. With that they both turned their attention to Kakashi, they both breathed in, and their hand seals both ended with the tiger seal. And together the yelled.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu! (Fire release: Great fireball technique)

"Crap" was all Kakashi could say before he was hit by two torrents of flames, the bigger flame was obviously Naruto's. The blast from the two jutsu colliding with each other scattered smoke and dust everywhere on the training grounds. Naruto Sasuke and Sakura stayed in their positions as the dust cleared. The impact of the jutsu left a huge crater at the point of impact. Through the smoke they could see a faint outline of a body lying inside of the crater.

"We got him!" Sakura yelled while jumping up and down, here inner self was screaming 'cha cha!' to no end inside her head. Sasuke just put his hands in his pockets and tried to act all cool.

"Whatever." He said with a nonchalant tone.

"Wait-..." Sasuke and Sakura both snapped their heads. "-...we didn't get him look closely." Sasuke and Sakura looked carefully in the crater and their eyes widened when they saw nothing.

"Too bad, you missed."

"Jump!" Naruto yelled as he followed his own command. It was too late for Sasuke and Sakura though, as a pair of hands sprouted out from beneath both of them and pulled them into ground, just up until their heads.

Kakashi popped out of the ground underneath Naruto and came after Naruto in the air.

"You're not the only who can use clones Naruto." Kakashi said as he punched Naruto in the stomach, followed by a double fisted downward thrust to the ground. Naruto hit the ground, making several cracks in it.

Naruto felt the piercing sensation the impact of hitting the ground left him with, it felt sharp and pulsing. He ignored the pain and still stood up.

"Come on Kakashi let me show what clones are. Kage bunshin no jutsu." Two other Naruto's appeared at the real Naruto's side. They both ran at Kakashi with that above Genin speed. The Naruto on the right charged in first and jumped over Kakashi's head. The Naruto on the left came in with a hard roundhouse, which was blocked by Kakashi.

"Don't forget him. Naruto said as he pointed to the the first clone in the air.

"I didn't forget you Naruto." Kakashi said as a clone of Kakashi erupted from the ground behind him and gave the Naruto clone in the air a clean uppercut, making him poof out of existence. The Kakashi clone then landed on the real ones shoulder's and thrusted off of him. He then hit the Naruto in clone in front of him with fast knee to the face, making him disappear as well.

"You see Naruto, rushing into everything isn't the way to go. How about you think this over before coming at, come up with a plan first." Kakashi said as his clone disappeared. "Naruto, I'm going to strike first now, it's the only time I will do this so pay attention."

Kakashi ran at Naruto, with amazing speed. He grabbed Naruto's by his collar and brought him up to eye level.

"What are you looking at you creep?" Kakashi continued to look at Naruto with his one eyed gaze.

"You're eyes, they bring back memories."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, how the hell could you have memories of me, I don't even now you that well."

"It's nothing Naruto, just nothing." Naruto was confused at the fact that Kakashi was so engrossed in his eyes, he knew that his eyes were weird, but did they really attract people's attention that much? Both Naruto and Kakashi were broken from their thoughts when they heard a loud buzz.

"Time is up, you failed to get the bells." Naruto could hear the sad cries of Sakura coming from her location in the dirt.

"We failed no no no!" She said.

"Damnit." Sasuke said.

Kakashi put Naruto down and walked away from him and over to Sasuke and Sakura. "Yes, times up you all failed to get the bells from me in the time I gave you." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, sheepishly. "Don't get sad over this though, honestly I didn't expect you guys to put up this much of a fight, I'm impressed."

"Hey Kakashi sensei!" Kakashi looked back at Naruto to see what he wanted. His eyes widened when he saw what Naruto heldin his hand.

"W-When did you-...?" Naruto let out a loud chuckle, for what he held in his hands was what he was aiming for the whole time.

"Wow Kakashi sensei, that was harder then I thought, getting these bells caused me to actually work with those two." He said pointing at Sakura and Sasuke.

"What's that supposed to mean, Dobe?"

"Nothing teme, now get yourself out of the dirt, you look stupid the both of you." Kakashi made a ram seal and the ground around Sakura and Sasuke widened and they both climbed out of their 'man'holes.

Kakashi sighed and put his hands in his pockets, Naruto had gotten him , he was fooled by a Genin. He knew if word got out about this the other Jounin wouldn't let him live this down. This was the first time a group of Genin had passed his bell test, Kakashi was caught off guard and he had to accept it.

"G-Good job, but tell me when did you do it Naruto?" Naruto who had taken to walking over to Kakashi and the rest of his team, stuck his index finger out.

"Right after Sakura kicked you and right before Sasuke and I hit you with our jutsu." Kakashi scratched his chin trying to remember what happened before he went underground to escape the Gokakyu no jutsu.

"Explain." Kakashi said. Naruto waited until Sakura and Sasuke finished dusting themselves off and walked over to him and Kakashi before continuing.

"Remember that clone I had throw a kunai toward Sasuke." Kakashi nodded and smiled when he realized what Naruto had done. He started to laugh.

"W-What's so funny Kakashi sensei, what did Naruto do?" Sakura asked. He rubbed the back of his head and turned to Sakura.

"I sent my clone to get them right before, Kakashi dug underground. This guy over there." Naruto pointed to a tree and a clone of him jumped out. "I told him to swipe the bells right after Kakashi got hit by you Sakura-chan."

Sakura honestly couldnt figure it out, she never saw a thing , all she saw was Kakashi go flying into the fire.

_Wow, I didn't see a thing, I never knew that Naruto was this strong, he actually seemed pretty cool when he was fighting with Sasuke but no matter, Sasuke's my man._

"Ok well since Naruto got the bells from me, I guess you all...pass. Let me ask you something though, do any of you know the actual meaning of this test?"

"Teamwork." Naruto said.

"Wow you guys really did know, ok then you all pass, tomorrow we start our first mission. This test was an all out success." Kakashi stuck up a big thumbs up to Everyone. "Now go and get something to eat, I know you're all hungry."

"YAY! Uh Sasuke-kun do you want to go get some ramen together?" Sakura asked with a blush.

"No." Sasuke said immediately as he walked away soon to be followed by Sakura. Naruto shook his head at Sakura's played out attempt at getting a date with Sasuke. Just asking was never the way to go with a guy like Sasuke, then again he was Sasuke.

"Naruto can you come with me for a second, I need to talk with you and the Hokage." Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"Whatever Kakashi sensei."

* * *

Naruto and Kakashi both stood in front of the Sandaime Hokage. They were in his office and both Naruto and Sarutobi wore confused faces.

"Kakashi sensei why do I have to keep my eyes closed? This is really starting to piss me off."

"Now now bear with it Naruto."

"Honestly Kakashi-san I don't see the point to holding Naruto-kun's eyes closed."

"You'll see. Naruto open your eyes." Naruto opened his eyes and rubbed them a couple times. Naruto looked at his surrogate grandfather. He raised his brow when he saw the expression on his face.

"Hey...ojiisan, what's wrong with you, what's up with that face." Naruto looked at the aged man in confusion.

"What-..."

"Naruto your...eyes, they came back." Naruto zoomed in on this, the old man had said that his eyes had come back, meaning that he had seen them like this before. Naruto looked at Kakashi then he looked back at Sandaime. It seemed like Kakashi also knew about Naruto's eyes, this seemed like old news that had just resurfaced to them.

"Wait, they've come back? Ojiisan What's going, you know about my eyes." The hokage shook his head yes.

"Of course I do Naruto, and so does Kakashi-san. They're exactly like your father's." Naruto took a step back.

"My father?"

"Yes, you may know him b-..."

"I know him." Kakashi and Sarutobi looked at Naruto in disbelief, Naruto couldn't have actually known his father.

"You're father is dead Naruto, there is know way you could have know who he was." Kakashi said.

"I don't know him, but I know who he is, the Yondaime Hokage." More disbelief came when Naruto said this. Sandaime leaned foward on his desk and rubbed his temples. He looked down for a moment and then looked back up. His eyes made him seem a little angry.

"Naruto who...told you about your father?" His voice seemed to shake. Kakashi sensed that he shouldn't say anything and backed away from the Hokage's desk as well. "This information was top secret, no one above Anbu knew about your father's identity."

"Someone else did ojiisan." Naruto said without a single hit of fear in his voice.

"Who was it?" Naruto took a long pause before continuing, he figured that something as important as this could only be revealed in dead silence.

"The one that my father sealed away-..." Sarutobi's eyes stayed as they were, Kakashi's visible eye sprouted a couple inches. "-..was the one who told me, Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Silence, silence from Kakashi, silence from Sarutobi, even silence from that loud mouthed street merchant selling cabbage in the streets below. Naruto knew the Kyuubi, this whole time everyone who knew of it thought Naruto was oblivious to its existence inside of him. They were all wrong.

Kakashi was the first to speak up, he broke the foreboding silence.

"Naruto how long have you known?"

"Since I was six...why didn't you tell me?" Kakashi let out a sigh, he then walked over to the Hogkage's desk and stood there so that he was facing Naruto. He looked at the Hokage, hoping for him to say something.

"I was going to wait until you were at least fifteen." Kakashi let out a sigh of relief.

"It's too late for that now ojiisan."

"I suppose your right, Kakashi-san I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Kakashi sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"But I thought that-..." Sarutobi's eyes suddenly became very serious. Kakashi let out another one of those lazy sighs."I guess it can't be help then."

"Report back, am I clear?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." Kakashi made a hand sign and gave Naruto a glance, he then disappeared in a plume of smoke. Naruto looked at the Hokage.

"Ojiisan."

"You're father was indeed Yondaime, It was him who sealed Kyuubi no Kitsune inside of you. He wished for me to tell you about this when you were old enough but since you already know about it there's no point in telling you. Let me ask you this Naruto-kun, can you talk to it?"

Naruto waited for a second and then responded. "Yes, I can talk to _him f_reely, it is sort of a mental link between us." Sarutobi shook his head in an understanding way.

"I see, well seeing as you can do that I suppose there is no use hiding it from you any longer." Naruto raised his brow.

"Keeping what from me ojiisan?"

"The truth. The truth about the Kyuubi and your father's legacy. Sit." Naruto did as he was told and took a chair from the back of the room and pulled up to the old man's desk. "Your father gave me something before he gave his life to save the village. He also told me a grave secret."

Naruto stayed still in his seat, he needed to hear this one, it was probably the most important moment of his life...so far. He leaned out of his seat as he waited for the Hokage to finish what he was saying.

"He told me ...the secrets of his clan." Naruto's eyes widened. Clan, what was this about a clan, Naruto knew he had a father and perhaps a mother but a clan, impossible.

"Clan, what clan are you talking about?" Sarutobi chuckled. "W-What's so funny ojiisan, what?"

"Nothing, it's just the look on your face. Anyway-.." His facial expression changed to one of seriousness. "- His clan , the Namikaze clan. Naruto-kun your aren't Naruto Uzumaki, you are Naruto Namikaze, the successor to the Namikaze clan and the lone survivor. "

Naruto's eyes widened, he never knew about any of this, Kyuubi didn't mention anything about...maybe he didn't know. Naruto decided that it was not the time to contemplate on whether not Kyuubi was hiding things from him.

"Ojiisan what is it that he told you?"

"Naruto-kun, your father told me of the one thing that lead to the end of your clan, he told me of the existence of his Kekkei Genkai, your eyes."

Sarutobi expected Naruto's next reaction. He knew how surprised the boy would be, and he was fully prepared to handle it.

"So my eyes are like this because...I have a Kekei Genkai..." Naruto put his head down.

"Naruto-kun, I know that it's a lot to- uh...Naruto-kun?" He stopped when he heard a sound coming from Naruto. It sounded like snickering. The snickering grew louder.

"Yes, this is so awesome, I have a Kekei Genkai, this just makes me so much more awesome than I already am! So what's its name?" Sarutobi just smiled at the boy's enthusiasm, this would have been a lot for most people to handle but Naruto took it like it was gift of some sort.

"Hey, ojiisan didn't you hear me I said what's its name?"

"Now, now calm down Naruto-kun I'll tell you the name, It's called the Geostigma. It is what marks those who have you're Kekkei Genkai. Those eyes of yours are the Geostigma, the sacred mark of your clan's Kekkei Genkai existing within your body, however the true name of your clan's Kekei Genkai I do not know, you will have to find that out for yourself."

"This Geostigma, it's only a mark, so how I find out my Kekei Genkai's true name?"

"I don't know Naruto-kun, Minato only told me of the mark."

"Minato?"

"It's your father's name."

"Right." Naruto said. "What was it that he gave you ojiisan?"

"He gave me this." Sarutobi looked down and reached into his desk. He ruffled through a bunch of paper, thern made a hand sign. He said 'release'. There was a flash of light from the sandaime's desk and seconds later he pulled out a small black journal and a large scroll that had the Kanji for seal on it and handed it to Naruto.

"What's this ojiisan?"

"Your father's last words are in that journal, Naruto-kun. It was something he told me that I should give you immediately after you found out about your Kekkei Genkai, I have no knowledge of what is inside of that book however."

"And what about this scroll, just the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Ah, this scroll contains your your family's jutsu and possibly the secret to your Kekkei Genkai. Minato told me that I shouldn't open it, or else I would be done for, he said that only one with the geostigma and his genes may open this scroll and no one else."

Naruto looked down at the scroll and journal in his hand, he always wanted to know more about his father and this might be his only chance.

"Naruto-kun, you it would be best for you if you were to hide this from everyone."

"You mean the scroll and journal ?"

"Not only that but your true identity, no one should know that you are a Namikaze, resume your current alias as Naruto Uzumaki."

"Sure. I can do that." Naruto walked over to the window and opened it. He stood on the windowsill and looked back at the hokage.

"Be well Naruto-kun."

"See ya ojiisan." With that Naruto jumped out of the window towards his house, he looked at the scroll and journal. "The geostigma huh?"

* * *

I'm done, whew! Second chapter is finally finished and I hope you liked it. I don't know if I really presented Naruto's ability that much in this chap, maybe another fight ought to do it. Uhh next chapter will deal with...welll read it yourself.

Read and reveiw.

Next chapter:

Missions after.


	3. Missions after

Yo this is Grim here, chapter three of my new story(which by the way is doing way better than the last one.) Um well in this chapter, I guess I'm going to reveal what is inside the scroll and journal The third Hokage, gave to Naruto...ok maybe not the scroll. As far as action goes though, there might not be any in this chap. You'll just have to read and find out, like the previous chapter.

If anyone has any ideas don't hesitate to notify me. Well like I always say. Plus at the end of the chap I'm going to have a sort of semi poll for you. It will involve the Harem idea I've been thinking about lately, I want you to tell me who you want to be in Naruto's five girl harem...Except Sakura, nooooo Sakura...no way.

Enjoy Mutha fuckas(Or else)

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Sacred Mark of The Kekkei Genkai: The Geostigma

Chapter 3: It's tired, It trains, She appears.

Concentration, concentration was the key, if he was going to do this he needed nothing but pure concentration. Chakra to the eyes, then it is completely cut off, leaving no traces of chakra ever being there, drained. His thoughts had to be closed off from anything outside what he was doing and he needed no distractions, no way that would be the worst thing that could befall him at this very moment.

Naruto sat on his bedroom floor in a cross-legged lotus position. His eyes were closed, his body was tense, and his mind was surrounded by metaphorical walls of concentration. Concentration, peace, solitude, order and control, these were the things that fueled him at this very moment. He hoped that no one who looked like a certain nine-tailed vermin would decided to speak out.

Naruto sat in his boxers and black T-shirt in complete silence. His forehead had various wrinkles on it due to his current hard concentration.

'Come on, come on close already.' Thought Naruto to himself. 'Why is this so hard..' Naruto's breathing quickened in pace.

'All I have to do is pump chakra into my eyes then immediately drain it from them...this should be a breeze for me.' Naruto ruffled around in frustration from his seated position .

'Damn, why can't I do this, I'm exactly what my father told me to do in that journal, this is harder than it looks.' Naruto went through the steps again in his head over and over. Force chakra into the eyes then drain it from them leaving not a trace. Naruto did exactly that and stil could not get his Kekkei Genkai to activate.

"Man I'm going to be in trouble if I don't learn how to deactivate this thing."

**"How about you try-...**"

'NOOOOO!' Naruto screamed inside his head while breaking his concentration seconds after. That was one thing Naruto was counting on, for Kyuubi to keep his trap shut. Naruto couldn't stand that weird feeling that came into his head every time Kyuubi decided to speak through their mental link.

'Kyuubi, I told not to say anything to me! You know I can't stand that weird feeling in my head, plus it broke my concentration you know!' Naruto's frustration grew even more untamed when he received no response from Kyuubi.

'Damn you, trying to break my solitude just so you can get a laugh, how selfish can you be Kyuubi.' Naruto then stopped himself, he had almost forgotten that he was talking to Kyuubi no Kitsune, lord of all demons. He was practically as selfish as one could ever even dream of being. Although that didn't explain why he gave Naruto back his true self.

Naruto sighed loudly and lay his back the on the hard wood floor of his bedroom. "I can't do this crap, how the hell am I supposed to deactivate this stupid mark thing, father you didn't explain it well enough."

Naruto looked up at the ceiling of his room and played back the events of the day before, he saw them clearly. Waking up in the forest, Kakashi's bell test, the conversation he had with ojiisan, it was all crystal clear. As if it had happened yesterday...oh wait...i-it did. Naruto's mind then wondered over to what had happened when he got home yesterday.

He began to clearly recap the events leading to what he was doing right now.

(Flashback)

_Naruto jumped in through the open window of his apartment and closed it securely. He ran around closing all windows then finally went to his room, slamming the door behind him and closing himself inside. He sat on his bed staring at the two items in his hand. One was the scroll, the other was the journal._

_Through all the silence that enveloped his room, he finally noticed that he was breathing heavily. Naruto had been in such a rush to get home that he didn't even bother to stop, by Ichiraku's to get some ramen, he just kept running and rooftop hopping. The scroll and the journal were the most important things to him at that moment, believe it or not, ramen couldn't even get Naruto to not go home, where he was alone. He actually wanted to be alone._

_"Ok...I want...to do this right away, before I do anything else. Priority one read this journal." Naruto placed the large scroll on a desk right beside his bed and kept the journal in his hand. Naruto looked at the journal with both anticipation and fear._

_"Finally I'm going to know something of how my father was like, finally." Naruto said. He took the journal and tried to open it but found no way to open it. There was a lock on it but no key._

_"What, I can't open it, no how am I supposed to read my father's last words to me?" Then Naruto felt it, that weird feeling, the feeling he got every time a certain Nine tailed fox spoke inside his head._

_"What do you want I'm kind of in the middle of something important, you know?" _

_**"Naruto don't be stupid remember what that old man said, only those your father's Kekkei Genkai and blood can open it." **Naruto contemplated on whether or not he should put Kyuubi's words to work. Giving it a try might won't kill anybody...at least that's what Naruto hoped._

_"That's right, what ojiisan said, it might not apply only to the scroll." Naruto looked at the journal then to his hand then he looked back._

_"Blood." Naruto bit his thumb, drawing blood and smeared a little onto the lock of his father's journal. Naruto waited for a reaction, and in a few seconds the lock started to smoke, as if the insides were on fire. The smoke continued to lightly flow out of the lock until Naruto heard a loud click and the lock popped open, opening the journal itself and taking Naruto to the first page._

_"Blood, its powerful." He open the book and began to read._

_It read: _

_"To my son,_

_"Naruto, If you are reading" this right now I'm dead. You are probably old enough to understand what is going on right now, about the Kyuubi no Kitsune. You may not know what is going on or who is writing this, so I'll tell you my name. Minato Namikaze. Right know you are the last of our clan the Namikaze clan, you are the rightful successor and head of the Namikaze clan. I knew that you would find out sooner or later, I just wanted to tell you myself. Naruto you have the thing that lead to our clan's downfall, the geostigma. A sacred mark that resides within the eye of all Namikazes, listen Naruto I'm telling that you need to learn how control your Kekkei Genkai, not only will it protect you but it will make you stronger. The geotigmatus was not just our Kekei Genkai, but is also the reason of our clan's demise. Naruto the Namikaze clan did not die out, they were exterminated. For twenty years our clan was hunted in secrecy by a group of ancient deities. Because the geostigma was such a powerful Kekkei genkai it was highly coveted among these "collectors", they were called the Saiki, bill collectors, a group of extremely powerful and otherworldly collectors of all things powerful. They collected these things in hopes of gaining power themselves. Prepare yourself my son, you are in grave danger, the Saiki will come for you, I'm not sure when but I'm definitely sure that they will come in time. So I'm giving you this warning, learn how to use your Kekkei Genkai and all will be well.  
Oh and Naruto I'm sorry about Kyuubi, I had no other choice, but to do it, the circumstances were very dire at the time. You don't have to believe me but all I want you to know is that I love you Naruto Namikaze, You remember that my hopes for you were that you be treated like a hero. Oh and in order for you to open that scroll you need to learn how to deactivate the geostigma, the key is to force chakra into the eyes then instantly drain it from them leaving no traces of chakra even being there. I'm leaving you in charge of rebuilding our clan, remember you are my son._

_, Sincerely your father, Minato Namikaze."_

_Naruto sat at the edge of his bed, he looked toward the direction of the scroll them looked back at the black book that was still open in his hands._

_"Kyuubi let me ask you something. Did you know about these Saiki things, if you do tell me."_

_Naruto felt that weird feeling he always got in the back of his head, but accepted it willingly, He needed to hear Kyuubi out, anything he had was good enough. _

**_"Well I don't know a lot but all I can tell you is that they have some sort of unbreakable connection with the Shinigami. The only time I got information about them was when I got it through rumors from other demons. So practically I can only tell you one thing...Is that enough?" _**

_Kyuubi awaited for Naruto's response, although he didn't care, he just didn't want to hear from the loud-mouthed brat. He had too many other things to do, right now he could be sleeping or something._

_"Tch, what kind of info is that Kyuubi, that's all you got?" Naruto laughed when he heard Kyuubi's low pitched grumble inside his head. "Well I have now time to waste, I have to start on this task right now." Naruto put his father's journal inside his drawer for safe keeping, it was the best he had. He picked up the scroll and sat on the floor with it in front of him. _

_'This should be easy.' Thought Naruto...well he thought._

(End of Flashback)

"Stupid scroll why won't it open, stupid eyes why can't I make this stupid Geo thing disappear?" Naruto pulled his hair causing him to feel the pain that kept him awake all night.

Naruto crawled to his bed and used it to help him stand up, deactivating the Geostigma takes a lot of Chakra control, if it weren't for Naruto large amount of chakra he probably would have passed out a couple hours ago.

"I'll do this later for now that scroll's going to have to wait. Naruto walked into his bathroom to prepare himself, time for a mission, he was ready. Not his first but he was ready.

--

Naruto stood perched in a tree, silent as a Ninja should be. He made not a sound, not a motion, not even a thought. That was broken though he had to make a sound.

"This is Uzumaki, I at point B...over." listened to the static of his headset, until he heard a voice answer him.

"This is Haruno...over, oh I-I'm at point C." All that was left was for Sasuke to answer. Naruto waited through the static until it stopped.

"I'm at point C." Sasuke said in a frank tone.

"Kakashi we're all in position, what should we do?"

"Is the target in sight?" Kakashi answered back. Naruto responded with a short 'yeah'. Naruto kept his eyes on the target and awaited his sensei's response, he was ready for anything.

"On my mark approach the target, but use extreme caution, the target is extremely fragile.

"Jeez." Naruto said. "It's just a cat Kakashi sensei, don't you think extreme caution is going a little over board?"

"Well yeah, but this is the cat that's owned by the Daimyo's wife after all." Naruto stayed silent, he had seen the Daimyo's wife before, she was huge. That was one lady he didn't want to get mad, she probably had the lungs of a banshee. Naruto decided that Kakashi's answer was a wise one and went along with it.

"Heh, point taken." Naruto responded sheepishly. "Now give us the signal." There was a long pause before Naruto heard Kakashi's voice again. You know like one of the silent pauses you hear right when the decides to blow, that was the one. The pause came and left and with that Kakashi's voice ensued.

"NOW!!" Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke jumped out of their respective hiding spots and quickly approached their fragile 'target'. Sakura and Sasuke dived for the cat but failed when it jumped out of the way, resulting in them crashing heads. Naruto however pounced straight on it, his approach from above was the best choice out of the three.

Naruto stood up holding the cat upside down by its hind legs, he sighed when he saw both Sasuke and Sakura rubbing their heads from the pain. Honestly his teammates could help him catch the great Kakashi Hatake of guard, but they couldn't catch a cat by themselves...useless.

Naruto tapped his headset, twice and fixed the mouth piece before speaking into it. He turned away from his two teammates.

"Kakashi sensei, the stupid cat has been captured and confirmed, there's a red ribbon on its right ear, this is definitely the stupid cat." He ignored the sound of the cat's hissing when he called it stupid, which he thought it was.

He heard Kakashi's distinct voice ring in his ear. "Okay, mission accomplished, return to the starting point, so that I can report to the Hokage." Naruto responded with a short 'whatever'. He turned around to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Get up I know the head bang didn't hurt that badly so... " Then Naruto stopped, then he thought about it, Sakura's forehead must have weighed at least a good twenty pounds, poor unfortunate Sasuke.

"Never mind." Naruto then hopped into a tree and looked back at them. " Catch up!" He yelled. He then brought the cat he was holding to eye level.

"Next time you run away you'd better be careful, I'll kill you next time." Naruto smiled in satisfaction when he heard the cat's hiss go down to something close to a dog's whimper. "Hmph, maybe you're not so stupid after all." With that Naruto jumped off the branch and to his starting point.

--

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke stood inside the Hokage's office all in a line with Kakashi in front of them. He stood facing the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama the mission was a success, lady Daimyo's cat was captured and is safely back in her possession. The old man responded with a nod.

"Ok, dismissed, team seven has no more missions for the day, you can all relax." Said the old man.

"Relax from what, all we did was find a stupid cat, for some lady." Sakura gasped at Naruto's belligerence.

"Naruto show some respect to the Hokage, honestly-." Naruto glared at Sakura, making her stop mid sentence. Sakura felt the intent of his stare and she stopped herself from continuing, lately Naruto had been glaring at her more and more and she wasn't to happy about it, but it's not like there was anything she could do about it.

Naruto took his stare away from Sakura and put it back on the Hokage. "Ojiisan why are you giving us such boring missions?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun that's enough its only your first day and you don't have that much experience. It's only natural that you take on such low rank missions."

"But Kakashi sensei, D rank missions come on don't you think we're stronger than that?"

"That's not the point Naruto, you're still inexperienced, so when the time is right Naruto, you will get higher ranked missions." Naruto grumbled and crossed his arms.

"Whatever." He said as he walked out the door.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Sakura said. Naruto looked back at her.

"Well Ojiisan did say that we were dismissed." With that Naruto walked out of the room leaving everyone inside.

As Naruto through the hall he found a random window and jumped out of it to save some time. Flipped forward and put his feet on the side of the tower and then began to run down. It took Naruto a couple of seconds to run down the whole Hokage tower but for some reason it seemed longer to him.

'These missions suck!" Naruto yelled inside of his head as he made his way from the side of the tower and onto the actual street. 'Maybe some ramen would calm me down.'

That was one thing about Naruto that definitely didn't change, his love for Ramen, that would probably never go away, no matter how much he changed. That was a fact. While Naruto walked along the streets towards The ichiraku ramen bar, he saw the villagers glancing at him.

If it had been seven years back, Naruto still wouldn't have known why the villagers would stare at him like that. He fully aware of the fact that they hated him because of his curse and blessing, Kyuubi no Kitsune. Before, the way they looked at him would usually make hm cry but know he didn't care when the villagers called him names and glared at him, he sometimes liked the looks of fear in their eyes. It made him feel powerful.

That wasn't the kind of power that he wanted though, nonetheless he came to accept it.

"Hey look it's the de-" The random villager stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Naruto stare at him. Loser, brat, trash, poor, the worst, he could take people calling him that, but demon that was one thing that he couldn't take, Kyuubi was demon here not him, he was just the container.

A smile came to his face as his nose welcomed familiar smell that always overwhelmed him every time he smelled it. The air smelled of Miso pork ramen, his favorite. If the air smelled nice then he must have been close to the ramen bar.

**"Naruto."**

'What?' Naruto said ignoring the glares from the villagers and swithing his attention on Kyuubi. 'What is it?'

**"You know if you don't like these missions, how about you train?" **

"What but I train all the time, how is that going to help, I've been training to prepare myself for these missions for like a week now, and I have not even been on one that's worthwhile.'

Naruto heard to deep rumbling Kyuubi chuckle that Kyuubi would always do, he was obviously missing something. 'What?'

**"The training that I'm talking about is different, this type of training requires you to be completely alone, you will be training with me from now on. Understood?" **

'I never agreed to this training Kyuubi. But I'll go along with, after all it's not everyday that you get to train with a giant immortal fox.'

**"Good, that's what I wanted to hear."**Naruto made a little nod before cutting off the connection between him a Kyuubi. Now was not the the time to talk about training or anything else, all there was is ramen.

"Time to eat!" said Naruto as he walked into the Ichiraku Ramen bar.

--

Tenten couldn't stand ramen, it was so common. Everyone ate ramen, ninja's, villagers, even the Hokage ate it. She wanted something original and out of the ordinary, ramen just didn't make the cut, it was for everyone.

Fancy fancy platters with decorative silver ware, that was her, a five star girl maybe even a six star. Still in all her yearning for top class food Tenten ate it with her team all the time. She didn't like it but if it made her team happy then she was all up for it.

Tenten, the weapons master, a born prodigy and now currently sitting at the front bar of the Ichiraku ramen bar. She sat there slowly eating her chicken flavored ramen, while her teammates Neji and Lee had an eating contest of miso. She let herself a small smile at her teammates rivalry.

"Guys don't you think that you slow down guys?" Neji and Lee stopped their repeated slurping and looked at Tenten.

"Now way Tenten, this Ramen is my nourishment, the preservation of my youth depends on it!" Neji, being to preserved to even say something like that just nodded in agreement. Both boys looked at each other for a quick second before going back to their bowls.

Tenten could have sworn that she saw actual sparks fly between their eyes. Seeing that it was of no use Tenten went back to her bowl. She rested her head on her hand while lazily poking around her bowl for who knows what.

"Naruto-kun nice to see you again."

"No, nice to see you Ayame-chan."

Tenten and her teammates looked at who the waitress was talking to. A short boy with unruly blond hair stood at the far edge of the bar. He looked to be a Genin and was very familiar. It looked like Neji and Lee were even trying to figure out who he was, as they had stopped eating.

"One order of Miso Ayame-chan." He sat down.

"Coming right up." Ayame answered.

Tenten continued to stare at the boy, hoping that he wouldn't notice, she stared and stared until she felt something on her shoulder. It was Lee tapping her. She turned to him.

"What is it Lee?" She said in a barely audible tone.

"Tenten isn't that kid a Genin?" Neji also leaned into the conversation.

"Yeah, what about?"

"Well that's Uzumaki Naruto, he's supposed to be the bane of Konoha, the worst of the worst, he's supposedly so weak that he skills don't even pass for that of an academy student." Neji tuned in also.

"I wonder how he got that headband." Neji said. "Nobody that is as weak as you say he is should be able to become a Genin. He should still be in the academy."

"Really." Tenten said in a low whisper, Then looking over to Naruto. Her eyes widened when she saw that he wasn't there. Tenten frowned. "You see guys he probably heard you, now he left."

"Not quite." Tenten, Lee and Neji froze when they heard Naruto's voice behind them. When she turned around she came eye to eye with Naruto, his blue and orange toward her dark brown. Tenten jumped back a little, with a blush on her face. Naruto was leaning directly into her face, after a few seconds though he leaned back.

Neji and Lee turned around and saw Naruto standing there with a bowl of piping hot miso ramen in his hand. The only thought that went through each of their heads was 'fast'.

"You're right, my name's Uzumaki Naruto and I'm a Genin and by the looks of it so are you guys. Let me just ask you something, is there any reason why you guys are talking about me?"

"U-UH, t-there's n-no re-..." Neji cut Tenten off, no doubt he saved her there.

"Like my teammate said there's not really that much of a reason, we just wanted to know why it is that you have that Hita-ate on your head."

"Because I'm a Genin obviously." Naruto said in an annoyed voice. He noticed that Tenten no longer had her eyes on him, they looked at the ground as if she was trying to avoid him.

"Well, by what I've heard you don't have that much of an honorable reputation." And Neji had just heard that a couple seconds ago.

"Well I think honorable reps only come when there's a stick up you're ass. Oh and what was that about me being weak?"

"Nothing, it just went with reputation." Naruto nodded and raised up an eyebrow, he shrugged and then walked back to his seat.

"Oh and by the way what are you're names.?" Lee was first to speak then, he immediately sprang up with an army style salute.

"Lee, I am Rock Lee, Konoha's handsome devil." Naruto raised his eyebrow even further and nodded. He looked at Neji.

"Hyuuga Neji." Naruto also nodded. He then looked at Tenten.

"What about you?" Naruto said as he slurped his miso in his mouth. Tenten almost jumped when she heard Naruto's voice.

"O-Oh, I-I'm T-Tenten." Naruto chuckled.

"What no last name?" Tenten chuckled slightly at this.

"Higurashi, my name's Tenten Higurashi." (Bet you didn't know that, I'm still not sure if I know her last name.)

Naruto, picked up his bowl and drank the rest of his soup.

"Ayame-chan, the money's on the counter." He yelled. With that he stood up, all clad in black and muscled and to the three Genin.

"Then I'll be seeing you, Lee, Neji, Tenten." Tenten could have sworn that she heard him say her name with a hint of something else in it. Naruto then jumped onto the rooftops and sped away.

"Really fast." Lee said.

"Yeah, those rumors about him may not exactly be true, don't you think Tenten.?"

"H-Huh, oh yeah they may not be." She said as she turned back toward her common food. Ramen, oh the food of the plebeian and boring, definitely not her type of food.

--

Naruto hopped into his apartment's window with ease. He closed the window and threw his pack on his bed. Naruto threw a glance at the scroll that he still wasn't able to open. He still needed to train and o... then Naruto remembered, training with Kyuubi, he could still do that.

He layed on his bed and closed his eyes, opening up the mental link between them. In his mind he spoke.

'Kyuubi, is it too early to start that training that you where talking about?' Naruto got that weird feeling again, he never liked it when Kyuubi did that to him.

**"No, we can start now." **

"Great!" Naruto said while opening his eyes. "Let's get started right now, as soon as possible."

**"No, not here this isn't the right place for your training, somewhere wide but secluded." **

'Is that all Kyuubi?" Naruto felt Kyuubi's mental nod. He hopped of his bed not wanting to waste any time and made a beak for his window, he stopped and then ran back to get his clan's scroll...then he hopped out the window as fast as he had came into to it.

--

(Very secluded area.)

Narutostood in a wide open plain, that was miles away from Konoha. It was sectioned off by a ring of trees that hid its presence. He stood in the middle of the plain and observed his surroundings.

"Perfect, now what's first." Naruto said through his mental link.

**"Naruto the key to getting stronger is knowing what you can do. Training comes easier if you know what to train first, that is why I will tell you about elemental affinities."**

"What ar-...?"

**"Don't cut me off, like I was saying all humans are born with something called an elemental affinity, it is a natural connection to Nature's elements that all humans have, some connections are stronger than others. There are five elements, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Lightning, you should have a connection to one of them, how strong it is depends on the odds." **

"so what is my elemental affinity?"

**"Let's find out then." **Red chakra began to swirl around Naruto body, at first it took him by surprise but after a few seconds he calmed down. He raised his hands up to his face and observed the veil of crimson energy that surrounded them, it was almost as is the red energy was like a second skin.

Naruto closed his eyes enjoying the warm feeling that came the red chakra. The picked up, the trees gently blew with the rising breeze. Naruto could feel everything.

"W-What is this stuff. Is this mine, this chakra is it all for me?"

**"No, it's my chakra and it's yours only if I will it to be."**

"Oh." Naruto said in his fantastic state of semi-euphoria, the feeling that was somewhat close to that of ecstasy. "So what are you doing to me?" Naruto said as the glorious warmth spread through his body like a wildfire being pushed on by gale force winds. Naruto could feel it, the power, the extrasensory, the feeling of invincibility.

**"I just finished analyzing you."**Then the feeling went away, in a split second it was gone a fast as it came. The winds died down, the trees no longer swayed with the non-existent breeze, Naruto returned from his state of semi conciseness. It just left, much to the displeasure of Naruto.

"What happened, why did you take the power away.

**"Like I said, I finished analyzing you for you elemental affinities. Narutothis is peculiar, normally someone of your age should not have this much of a connection with nature. You have more than one elemental connection!" **

"Is that bad?" Kyuubi mentally shook his head.

**"No that astounding, you actually have three elemental affinities, most chuunin don't even have that many." **Naruto felt proud, getting praise from the great Kyuubi no Kitsune was a hard task, but Naruto got it by just being him. One element was what he expected but three, that was fonominal according to what Kyuubi was saying.

"So what are they."

**"Wind, Fire, and Water. That is an extremely rare combination, for one you have wind, which is rare by itself but then you also have connection to the two polar opposites fire and water, very rare indeed. Consider yourself lucky even some of the most powerful shinobi do not have a connection to these three natures at the same time, its a sure sign that you are destined to defy great odds."**

"So basically what you are saying is that I'm awesome and can't be stopped." Naruto laughed when Kyuubi made a deep sigh. "So what's next?" Naruto asked while opening up his eyes, pupils dilated from the harsh light that entered without warning.

"Teach me something." He said.

**"Well since you are already adept in controlling chakra I will skip that part. We need to work with adapting you're chakra according to the Nature, for example when you think about wind what do you see?"**

Naruto closed his eyes and envisioned what wind would look like to him. "It looks sharp, yet...free. Small but fast."

**"Now try to make your chakra sharp and fast." **Naruto did as he was told, he relaxed himself and took hold of his chakra. His chakrafelt wide and spread out, but he concentrated to make it smaller and more 'accurate.' A faint glow made his way around Naruto's body, it didn't move at all, it stood still, no tiny wiggle, just still...sharp.

**"Can you feel it?"**Naruto nodded. He had felt his chakra before but this new feeling was great the feeling of being on point, accurate, fast, sharp.

**"Good now I have a jutsu for you, something that I learned a couple decades back." It is purely wind natured. I want you to hit the tree behind you with it."**

"What's its name?"

**"I'll tell you but you have to hear it for yourself."**At first Naruto was confused, but in a split second he understood what the fox meant. With an intake of breath Naruto concentrated, cleared his mind and focused his chakra to a point. He opened his eyes and spun around, yelling out.

"Fuuton: Hira Reppuu no jutsu!" (Wind release: Gale palm technique) A huge blast of chakra erupted from Naruto's palm, taking the form of gale force wind, hitting the tree behind him and ripping it out of its roots and off the ground. Two other trees were caught in the crossfire but they did not fly off they only leaned to the side a bit.

"Whoa, that's the power of wind?"

**"Yeah, do you feel it, can you do it again, are adept at it, if not will you be?"**

Naruto answered a simple 'yes'.

**"Then prove it to me, look up." **Naruto looked up and saw a bunch of leaves gently descending to the ground. **"Cut three of those before they hit the ground."**

"Easy." He concentrated, the wind picked up, his chakra acquitted itself, he extended his palm upward and in no time what used to be three leaves was now nine. "Is that enough."

**"Good you understand, but let me tell I shall not teach anymore jutsu based on wind you have to figure it out for yourself, remember to keep you chakra sharp and clean."**

**"On to you second affinity, fire, you already know a jutsu, but I shall teach you one more but first you need to know how to use adapt your chakra to be in sync with the element fire. Flare your chakra, make it fierce and wild, let it run rampart.'**

The small faint glow around Naruto began to grow brighter, the sharp feel transformed itself into a wild, fierce, and powerful. Flaring his chakra even more Naruto brought his hands out in front of him and smirked.

"You mean like this right?" Kyuubi responded positively.

**"In order to do this jutsu you will have to gather chakra into your hand. and flare, but immediately contain it. It's a close range fire stlye jutsu. Here it is, I want you to hit the ground with it, let it explode on contact." **

Naruto ran and jumped in the air and set his eyes on the ground below him. He gathered chakra into his right fist, making it erupt in a swirl of red flames. Naruto pivoted into a free falling position and dropped towards the ground. His inferno at hand grew even more violent.

"Katon: Kobushi dai no jutsu! (Fire release: Great palm technique)

"Almost there." He further compacted his chakrain his hand so that it looked like his whole arm might explode at any second. He was now yards from the ground, he struck.

"Now!" He let all of his compacted chakra go loose on impact with the floor. The result was a huge twenty foot crater, he was in the middle of the huge scorched crater. He smelled of smoke and had burned his left hand.

"Ow, my hand i-..." But Naruto stopped when his hand immediately began to heal itself. "-..Never mind." he said. "What else do you have?"

**"Finally I have a water style jutsu for you. Unlike the other two, this one actually requires hand signs, so it may be harder to execute then the other two. By what you've read in the scroll of sealing, I suppose that you know the hand signs to the water fang projectile."**

"Yeah, I do." Naruto began to get what Kyuubi was saying, but then he got confused. How the hell was he supposed to do a water drill when there wasn't any water? Maybe...

Naruto began to rapidly make hand signs.

"Suiton: Suigadan!" (Water release: water fang projectile) water Naruto expected were for two drill like tendrils of water to come out of nowhere, but what he got was nothing, no moisture, not a single drop of it, not even some water vapor.

"Maybe I can't do it just yet." Naruto said as he huffed. "Why did you tell me to do that?"

**"It was a test, of your strength and to see if your connection to water was great enough that you could make water out of chakra. It may not be there yet, but your affinity with water will grow stronger. But know that that's done I want you to go home a try to open the scroll." **

"Why, I'm not going to be opening it anytime soon. So-.." Naruto stopped when he heard Kyuubi roar in the back of his head. "-..ok, fine you don't have to be such a baby about it." Naruto said as he walked out of the crater, brushing himself off. Then he stopped."

"You can come out now, I already know that you're here so it would be pointless if you hide in the trees Sasuke-teme."

Naruto's thoughts were confirmed when he saw Sasuke drop out of the tree in front of him. The lone Uchiha's face carried an expression of anger.

"What do you want?" Sasuke stood still for a couple of seconds then spoke.

"How did you do those jutsu you just did a couple of minutes ago?"

"Why, would you like to know?" Sasuke cocked his head to the side and looked in the other direction.

"Tch, I was just wondering how you got so strong dobe, it doesn't even matter though I can still kick your ass though." Sasuke smirked, it like he wanted to fight.

"Really is that what you think, or did I give you some form of amnesia when I punched you in the face a week ago?" Naruto said while pointing to his nose. His open mocks made Sasuke growl in anger.

"Last time that was a lucky shot, get through you're head Dobe, this I'm not going to go so easy on you!" Sasuke's usually calm voice had now risen to that of a yell, Naruto's was breaking him down. "We'll see who stronger than who, Naruto-dobe, fight me!" He said as he made a straight charge for Naruto.

Naruto simply stood there waiting for Sasuke's arrival. When he came, he threw a punch at Naruto, which Naruto easily dodged. He then spun around and kicked Sasuke into his man made crater.

"Hmph, face it Sasuke, you can't beat me you teme. It doesn't matter if you were the best in the class, haven't you ever heard that first is the worst?" With his final word Naruto disappeared leaving Sasuke in to stew in his own muck, his scorched and smelly muck.

--

Twelve dark figures stood in a brightly lit room, It seemed castle like, if there were castles in space. The room they stood in looked like it was from some weird final fantasy thriller. The twelve ominous figures, stood in a circle, surrounding the last thirteenth figure.

They were all clad in black and had hoods on their heads, completely contradicting the white and silver walls that surrounded them. The figure in middle spoke first.

"He has revealed himself. The last Namikaze and the only possessor of the geostigma. Now is the time to strike."

"But how?" Said one of the cloaked figures.

The one in the middle and supposed leader spoke again. "Through his mind, Lark. We attack him through his mind, and for that we need a woman's touch." He pointed to another figure, except this one was smaller, and had the curves of a woman.

She spoke out with a feminine voice. "I see Zexin-sama, I know what to do. But are you sure that that is all you want to be done to the child?"

"Yes Larxene, that is all, I would rather not resort to violence, but rather negotiate with the boy, see if he will come quietly, who knows, he might even survive."

The other cloaked figures all nodded their heads in agreement with their leader's plan. He spoke up again.

"The mission is almost complete, all we need is the power of the last Namikaze, then we, the Saiki will be immortal." Zexin raised his hands up as if praising something. "A new age of immortality is coming, we will rise once again, and gain our rightful positions as demi gods!"

He put his hands down.

"Larxene, the savage nymph, you are to approach the Namikaze in secrecy, do not alert anyone else beside our target about your existence."

Larxene stepped up to Zexin and knelt down. She looked up, you would have seen her face but her hood obscured such sights. "May I know the location Zexin-sama?"

"Hi no Kuni, more specifically Konohagakure no sato. You are to go as soon a possible, which would be now...Understood?'

"Yes." Larxene said as she disappeared in a flash of speed. Another figure stepped up to Zexin.

"Her speed is indeed impressive."

"Yes, indeed it is." Zexin said. "What's you're point Roland?"

"Nothing Zexin-sama, I was just saying." Roland said as he stepped back into the circle that was now reduced to eleven members instead of twelve.

"Good." Zexin said. "Dismissed." All of the cloaked figures...the Saiki all bowed at once and walked away in their separate directions, leaving Zexin alone inside the bright room. He looked out of a very large window to behind him, observing the moon.

"In time, Naruto Namikaze, in time." With that Zexin stuck his finger into thin air and opened up what seemed to be like a portal of dark chakra. It was roughly square, and there were tiny sparks coming from its sides. With that Zexin walked into the portal. All that could be heard was his cold chuckle dying out as the portal closed behind him.

There was a snap and the brightly lit room seemed to just shut down completely, the lights went off and what was once brilliant light became, pitch blackness.

--

A hooded female figure, moved through the dark forest with amazing speed. She sped along the canopy with ease, looking only in one direction, Konohagakure no Sato.

"Target, almost reached." She said, not even bothering to stop to rest. After a few minutes of forest the scenery changed from trees to Konoha. The hooded female stood at the egde of a cliff, looking at the border of Konoha.

"Nice village." She said in her feminine voice. Larxene flipped her hood off of her head, revealing her short platinum blond hair. She gave one of the two horn like strands of hair on the top of her head a flick and smiled...no it was more like a smirk, a devious little smirk.

Larxene closed her eyes. A pulse of chakra emanated from her and in an instant she opened her eyes.

"Found you Namikaze." She said in a song like tune. "Found you."

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Finally I'm done with this chapter, I hoped you all enjoyed it. Sorry about the wait though, I'm staying over at my Aunt's house for the summer and her computer sort of malfunctioned.

But anyway back to mor important matters. Like I said in the in the beggining of the story I wanted to make a harem for Naruto and you are to pick them...if you want, SO it's like a poll with no choices, you make them up. There should be no more than five girls in the Harem, you don't have to pick five girls though, just one and I'll picked the other four based on what the majority says. Oh yeah I will be willing to put any girl in it except for Sakura, no way.

And if you're confused on how Larxene looks like, here's a hint. She looks exactly like Larxene from kingdom hearts...google it, basically the Saiki are Organization XIII from Kingdom hearts, you can google that too. Now tell me how I did...you know I think this is my shortest chapter yet.

Read and review

Next chapter: Larxene, Savage Nymph of the Saiki.

Grim's steppin out.


	4. Larxene, Savage Nymph of The Saiki

Hey what's up this is my fourth chapter of the The Geostigma. Now that I have introduced a couple of suspicious characters into the story, I guess this is where the turning point begins. This chapter will be nice, It'll have a fight or two in it, so I hope it's badass enough for you.

If this took a long time to come out and you got tired of waiting to read it then I say, From the bottom of my heart-...

...That I... DON'T GIVE A SHIT!! That is all.

Oh yeah and those two anonymous readers who sent me reviews, talking about the history of fuckin spell check, well I say, Fuck you both. Who actually has the time to search up the history of spell check and then tell me about it. If these guy actually had accounts on this this site I bet that they were two big ass cowards who couldn't log in and give me an honest review with there actual user names being displayed.

Here's a tip, If you're going to give me a bad review and you have an account, at least login so I know who you are and can find you and break you down...Thanks.

I'm not mad about those two reviews though, its actually a good thing, now I know one of the things I do wrong, so to the two anonymous reviewers, I thank you for your harsh but helpful words.

But your still cowards...with little wieners...Indeed you are. On with the story.

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas.

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The Sacred Mark of The Kekkei Genkai: The geostigma.

Chapter 4: She visits, she infiltrates, he figured it out.

_She looked at him with lust on the mind. His sweat covered body, his hard features, those unique eyes of his that always captivated her at a moments notice. He played with her hair as she did him, over and over, then they'd switch. _

_When it was over they wold lay down and stare at each other, trading words such as I love you and you're so beautiful. She lay her head on his hard chest and he sighed with the tingling touch of her dark hair. He would hold her body in a tight embrace, and whisper that he loved her, and she would sigh from his warm breath on her earlobe._

_"I love you." He would say._

_"I love you too." She would say, in her sweet feminine voice that always turned him on, it was the same reaction she gave him whenever he spoke with his masculine one. _

_They would sit there after what seemed like an eternity and then go at it again, and again and again until they were fully satisfied. Staring at each others eyes was enough for them after that, that's all they wanted to do at that point. Just stop and stare, and when their eyes met, they would intertwine their hands._

_Talking with such low voices that not even a person who was in the room with them would hear their conversation, it was just the two of them in their own little world called the bedroom. _

_His blue and orange eyes locked on to her white ones and vice versa. _

_He called her perfect in every way, and she would giggle at his flattering comments and then reward him with a kiss, one that them both on. Turn ons, the thing that usually led to their overnight love sessions, always a crowd pleasure for them._

_She would hold onto him tight as he crawled out of the bed saying that he would be back in a few minutes. Then she would watch him go out of her room and into the bathroom, being epitome of her perfect man. Strong, handsome, optimistic, a believer... and big, boy was he big, he satisfied her every time they wrestled under the covers, he treated her right. What more could she ask for, He was all she wanted, all she needed, him and nothing more. _

_The knob to her bathroom would click and turn open and he would come walking out, fully naked and with a smile on his face and glued to his package were none other but her white eyes but they would quickly go up to his face again._

_He was everything she could wish for in a boyfriend...Too bad she couldn't have him though, too bad he wasn't her boyfriend._

Hyuuga Hinata's eyes snapped opened. Looked around in the confines of her own room, good thing it was her room. The Hyuuga heiress felt her face, it felt warm, hot even.

Shuffling in bed, Hinata put her back against the wall at the head of her bed. Through all of her squirming she felt something wet in her sheets, between her legs.

Hinata lifted up her covers to find her that her panties were soaked and it wasn't water that was in them.

"Not again." She said with a said sigh. She had been having the same dream over and over each night and they were always about a certain Uzumaki Naruto.

She got up and inspected her cover to see if she might have soaked them as well, but all was well, as they were dry. Left drawer in her dresser, that's where she kept all of her underwear and that's where she went, opening it and getting a new pair of underwear while tossing the old wet ones in a basket full of dirty clothes, making sure that she put those ones at the bottom of the basket.

Her mouth sounded off another sad sigh as she slipped on her new dry underwear.

He was her perfect man, except he had one fatal flaw in him that no other girl saw in him. To the young Hyuuga Heiress Uzumaki Naruto was unobtainable.

"Naruto-kun." She said as she lay back in her bed, the pale moonlight making her face glow and futher intensifying how love stricken she had become over her perfect man.

"I going to erase your flaw, a-and I'll be your g-girlfriend." Then the pale eyed girl slowly drifted off to sleep, beginning to once again dream of her unobtainable prize.

"You love him don't you?" Hinata's eyes opened once again. She could have sworn that she heard a girls voice, but she labled it as a figment of her imagination.

"You want to be with him right?" The voice came again, this time a little louder.

"W-Who a-are you, what d-do you w-want?" Hinata pulled her sheets up past her nose so that her covers left enough room for her to see.

'The one you want, I can help you be with him.' Hinata's eyes widened at what the low female voice said. Hinata may not have known who the girl was but, if she would help her get to Naruto then she couldn't be there to hurt her. The thing is, who was she?"

"W-Where are you?" The girls voice sounded like it was everywhere, ghost like, in her head. Hinata decided to show some courage and inched her covers away from her face and brought them down to her chest.

"I'm here in front of you, activate your bloodline." Hinata did as she was told to by the female apparition and activated her family's Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan. Making the proper hand signs Hinata's eyes suddenly became surrounded by bulging veins, a trait only for those of the Hyuuga family.

Her eyes were as wide as saucers when she what, or who was in front of her. Somehow, standing right in front of her, not hidden from the unique vision of the Byakugan, was chakra. Simply chakra, it was standing right in front of her. She quickly inched backward as she let out a series of gasp and hard breaths.

"Don't be afraid." Hinata tried not to be afraid, she tried looking directly at the floating energy source, but couldn't. Her body wouldn't do as she commanded it to, her mind told her to look but her fear would not let her body cease its shaking. As she continued to shake and look away from the chakra and it came closer.

"Don't come any closer!" She said in a low and scared whisper. "W-Why are you here?" Her eyes began to tear up from the overwhelming fear that hit them.

There was a long silence, as if the world had been put on pause. "I'm here to help get to the one you love. I'm on a mission, a mission to ensure you're happiness."

"W-Wha..." She heard a quick 'shush' from the suspended chakra in front of her.

"Say no more, only what I ask. I am an angel, I was sent by the almighty Kami, here to insure that you are happy. He has noticed something in you, you're everlasting love for a certain boy, even though he was shunned by society and yet you try to acknowledge him, that is something Kami feels should not go on unrewarded."

Knowing that she had just been visited by a divine being Hinata still cold not stop shaking. She knew that angels never meant any harm, they were pure beings but for some reason Hinata couldn't stop being afraid.

"S-So you're g-going to help me?"

"Yes."

"O-Ok, I'll accept it then."

"Thank you, young child...but before I aid you tell your name first and who you love."

Hinata wiped the tears from her face and found the courage to look the directly at the angel. After a few sniffles of relief she spoke. "H-Hyuga, Hyuuga Hinata, a-and I love U-Uzumaki N-N-Naruto.

"Good." The angel of chakra said. "Now, hold out your hand." Hinata reluctantly stuck out her hand to the female force of chakra. "Touch me." Hinata did as she was told and touched the chakra, and in what seemed like an instant the angel was gone in a vibrant flash of light. Hinata rubbed her eyes and blinked several times in confusion.

"A-Angel-sama, w-where are you?"

'In here.' She said in her graceful voice. 'Inside of you, I will not do every thing for you, I'm only here to guide you, Hinata-chan. ' Hinata nodded and laid back in her bed.

"Um...angel-sama is there anything that you would like for me to call you while you are here."

'Angel is perfect for now, as I can not tell you my real name. Oh and Hinata-chan, don't tell anyone about my existence in you.' Hinata nodded once again before she closed her eyes and went on to resume her previously interrupted fantasies of her perfect man.

--

Deactivation, it seemed impossible, in Naruto's eyes. It simply couldn't be done for some reason. That's what the blond nin seemed to think, well before he actually did it. It was something that he thought that he would never do, but a giant nine tailed fox's training would always help a person through their troubles, if they accepted it.

A feeling of pride race through Naruto very being as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. It was great to be back, but if Naruto had to be honest he liked his original eyes better. They were more unique, orange and blue eyes suited him better, than just regular old blue ones.

"Hmm, now I my eyes look normal again." Naruto said with a bored sigh, his already faded away. "How boring." 'You know Kyuubi I thought that I would be glad when I finally deactivated my geostigma, but actually having normal eyes suck.' He thought as he flashed his Kekkei Genkai on and off in front of his bedroom mirror.

"Normal, unique, normal, unique...definitely unique. My eyes look way better with the geostigma on." Naruto said as he openly expressed his opinion on his bloodline limit to Kyuubi.

Naruto continued to deactivate and reactivate his Kekkei Genkai, constantly replaying the effects it had on his eyes.

**"Naruto you said that you wouldn't open the scroll yesterday because it was late and you had just learned to control your Kekkei Genkai, but here's a suggestion how about you stop fucking around and open the scroll already!" **

Naruto jumped back from the mirror at the sound of Kyuubi's demonic voice. "Ok I'll open it...jeez." Naruto flashed his eyes on and off on final time before walking off to his room to get the scroll.

"Bottom drawer, underneath the underwear if I remember correctly." Naruto said as he opened his drawers, digging through new and old pairs of boxers. Through the feel of soft linen his hand hit something hard, the scroll.

With a satisfactory sigh Naruto picked up the scroll and tossed it onto his bed. He looked at it and opened up his mental link with Kyuubi.

"Hey Kyuubi, you ready for this?" He felt something of a mental nod come from the fox. "Alright, check this out." Naruto looked at the seal on the scroll with his geostigma activated. He flashed it off and with the certain glowing that came from the scroll the seal started ti light up and burn away.

"Tch, easy as pie."

**"Hey baka, don't go around thinking your all high and mighty now that you have a Kekkei Genkai, it'd be best to just keep this whole thing undercover...understand."**

Naruto looked at the scroll and chuckled with a satisfied look on his face. "Not at all Kyuubi, I don't have a clue, who cares if I tell people of my Kekkei Genkai, it's not like they'll even know about it. People don't even now who my dad is, let alone what my eyes can do. Now I'm going to ask this again but this time answer me with words...you ready for this?"

There was a long silence, it seemed like an angry silence. **"Yeah, I'm ready for this...brat." **

"Good thing too, I probably wouldn't have opened it without you anyway." The seal fully burned away, and Naruto slipped his finger underneath the frail paper of the old scroll. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw what was in it, his eyes were like to big white UFOs that were turned side ways.

There was nothing but descriptions to a jutsu and and some writings. The jutsu, named the rasengan an S-ranked jutsu, the only known jutsu of the Namikaze clan. It had a warning underneath it in big read letters, they read do not attempt to use this jutsuwithout following instructions. Underneath that were none other than the instructions to performing the jutsu.

The writing at the far right of the scroll had the words for Naruto Namikaze next to them. He began to read.

It read.

Naruto,

I don't have much time, left so I'm leaving you this one jutsu, the rasengan, a technique of my creation, one of my best jutsus I have ever made. There is one other person who knows this jutsu Naruto, his name is Jariaya. I assume that you only are reading this so I'll go on. What I'm about to tell consist is about the Geostigma, it will help protect you from the Saiki... I hope. It is the true nature of our clan's Kekkei Genkai, its true name and why it is so coveted by the denizens of the devine world. Son the Geostigma, its power isn't that of a normal Kekkei Genkai, true it is similar to other doujutsu type Kekkei Genkai such as the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan or the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan but its power is very different. The Geostigma is nothing but an alias to its real name, you will have to find out its true name by yourself, as did all Namikaze. Along with the changes in eye color that the geostigma give you it also holds a very distinct power, the power of munipulation. As a Namikaze, the Geostigma allows us to manipulate nature's elements, The reason for it being so coveted among the Saiki. The power of manipulation is a powerful asset when you are the divine.  
Naruto, as you may not know but the form of the geostigma that you should contain now is not its complete form, what you possess is nothing but its premature form, so I'm asking you to learn how control your Kekkei Genkai and help it evolve within your eyes. If you wish to survive then you must learn to use it correctly and protect yourself from the Saiki. Survive Naruto, survive. I know that this may be a lot on your shoulders and I didn't mean for you to carry this burden but you are the last Namikaze...I'm sorry.  
Naruto you are one who is to rebuild Namikaze clan and be the first the awaken the geostigma to its final stage of maturity, a feat that none of us have ever done. This is what my legacy was, the rebuilding of our clan, the awakening of the geostigma and the destruction of the Saiki as a whole, its up to you Namikaze Naruto

Namikaze Minato.

P.S. A warning of the Saiki, beware the black Phoenix.

Narutotrembled, his body shook violently with rage and sadness. His grip on the open paper of the scroll tightened, almost ripping it apart.

"So I'm the only one who can destroy these things, the only one who can fully awaken the Geostigma." He chuckled. "Father, you're such an idiot, what were you thinking, hiw can you expect me to defend myself from these things, how am I supposed to rebuild the clan, what does he want me to do fuck every girl in Konoha?"

**"Naruto...I"**

"No Kyuubi, it's ok, I can handle this. My father knew I could, he wouldn't have put this much responsibility on me if he didn't." A small smile began to creep on his lips. His chuckled grew louder. "Then if this is what I must do then so be it."

**"Heh, you sure took that much better than I had expected, I'm surprised at your maturity." **Naruto shrugged and stood up. he wiped some dust off his shoulder and blew on his new black attire. Naruto rolled up the scroll in his hand and put it back in his drawer.

"I guess that's just the kind of person my father would have wanted me to be, that doesn't mean that I'm not mad though."

**"Still, I'm glad that you didn't overreact like your past self would have."**

"Nah that's not who I am anymore, I'm a different person and besides I really don't feel like getting angry right now." Naruto said as he headed toward his door." But right now I need sometime to think. Not to mention that I need to figure out a way to awaken my Kekkei Genkai to its fullest potential.

He headed towards the door with the Hokage stone faces as his destination. When he opened it he came face to face with a hooded figure, a female. Her hood covered her facial features and she wore a tightly fitted black trench coat, Naruto didn't fail to notice the curves of puberty that adorned her nice body.

"Who the hell are you?" She said nothing, she only walked foward, trying to enter his apartment but Naruto blocked her and fixed an annoyed glare on her. "You know it's impolite to just try to walk into a person's house without introducing yourself, so how about you answer my question, who...the hell...are you?"

She giggled and brought her hand up to Naruto's chest, but Naruto caught it. "What the hell do you think you're doing, what do you think I'm dumb or something. If your going to try to attack me you'd better learn to conceal you chakra better, since I got up this morning I've felt it flaring."

The hooded female gave a short gasp of shock and then laughed again. Naruto's eyes widened when he was blown back into his apartment by an invisible force. She walked in and took of her hood.

"You old bitch, you'll pay for that."

"Old bitch?! I'll have you know that I'm only 13 and I'm not a bitch!" She pulled off her hood, revealing short blond hair that had two horn like stirps of hair that stuck out when she took off her hood and green eyes that rivaled the luster of Haruno Sakura's green orbs. (Hey I may not like that bitch named sakura but she's got great eyes.)

She walked up to a still prone Naruto and picked him up by the nape of his jacket's collar in a sheer display of strength. The blond stared at him with blazing emerald green eyes, not to mention that her face had a blush that could compete with Hyuuga Hinata's.

"Y-You...who do you think I am calling me an old bitch? If you weren't a Namikaze I'd...I'd." Naruto grabbed her hand shoved her off.

"How did you know I was a Namikaze?" Naruto was in a state of shock, nobody but Kakashi and ojiisan were supposed to know about his identity as a Namikaze. Now Naruto really wanted to know who this person was, she didn't seem to be a Konoha nin, she didn't seem to be a nin at all, she didn't even wear a Hita-ate. She could have been a nuke-nin, from some distant place like Suna or something but she just didn't seem to play the part.

"Our leader told us, actually we all know who you are and I've been sent here to retrieve you." You may not know who I am but I..."

"Saiki.."

The blond girl's confident smirk left her face after Naruto said those words. "W-Wha...what?"

"I said Saiki, an organization of powerful and ruthless hunters or should I say collectors that once hunted down the revered Namikaze clan and exterminated us in secrecy, you desired our Kekkei Genkai and now I suppose your here to finish the job?"

She stood in front of Naruto with an impressed exspression on her face.

"...Wow." She said "I guess you do know who I am. I doesn't matter though, you're still going to have to come with me... hey what's so funny?" She moved her face in closer to Naruto's earning her an annoyed blush from his impassive smile.

"Nothings really that funny but, I was just thinking that you're really inattentive for someone in the Saiki." The blond girl's eyes widened when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head around to see another Naruto about to come down on her with a kunai.

"Gotcha." He said, but before the Naruto clone could make contact with her she disappeared, throwing him off balance and making him almost hit the real Naruto. She reappeared in front of his door and shut it closed and locked it. She pit her hands on her hips.

"Now Namikaze be quiet and come with me, I would rather avoid fighting so...you get the point." Naruto smirked while his shadow clone dispersed.

"You may not want to fight but I do!" He stuck his hand out and gathered his chakra. "First tell me your name."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Like it really matters, but since you want to hear the name of the person who takes you In I'll tell you. I am Larxene, the savage nymph of the Saiki, please to meet your acquaintance." She said as she gave Naruto a curt bow.

" Good, Fuuton: Reppuusho! (Wind release: gale wind palm.) A blast of chakra converted air blasted out of Naruto's open hand and hit Larxene head on, blasting her through the closed door of Naruto's apartment and making her crash onto the streets below.

Naruto ran full speed and jumped out of his 'house' after her.

"Son of a bitch!" She said as she back flipped and landed on her feet and looked up at the still falling Naruto.

"That's Naruto to you, tramp!" He said as he spun his body foward doing several front flips into a high flying axe kick onto the blond Saiki member.

"Take this!" But Naruto's plan failed, as Larxene grabbed his foot and seemingly absorbing the impact of his high risk maneuver and making the ground beneath crack from the force of Naruto's kick. She pulled Naruto's leg down and gave Naruto a powerful headbutt, keeping him suspended in the air for a little longer.

"That's not going to work Namikaze!" She then punched Naruto into the air. She then dissappeared and kicked him back down into the ground.

"Damn you!" Naruto said as he spit up blood watched Laxene hit the ground with grace. He stood up and flashed his Kekkei Genkai on. He suddenly felt his chakra begin to surge.

'Is that the geostigma?' Larxene thought as she watched Naruto's eye color change from blue to blue and orange. 'This may get sticky, why did master Zexin send me to capture this kid, I'm the weakest member, and besides I just joined this organization...WHAT AM I THINKING?! I can take this guy, no matter how good looking he is.' Larxene stared at Naruto's eyes with a blush.

Naruto smirked then disappeared. Larxene's green eyes widened as she stumbled back in surprise, she felt a great force on her back and was lifted up in the air. She yelled in pain from the force of Naruto's punch that was soon followed by a crushing elbow that sent her towards the ground.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Said Naruto as he finished making the proper hand seals. He breathed in deeply and spat out a giant fireball of fire. The flames burst onto the ground making a huge explosion. Naruto landed on the ground in front of the burning crater. He smiled at the sound of the crackling flames but then he heard it.

"That damned demon child, I knew he was no good."

"He's brought this type of commotion into the village, why doesn't he go and die already."

Naruto heard the scared cries of the villagers ran away trying to get away from his fight with Larxene, he saw the faces of the frightened children who saw what he just did. Burning a girl probably wasn't the best choice in this scenario.

Still he didn't care. He made a tiger seal and in one quick motion he sucked the flames up into his mouth making them vanish within a few seconds.

"Saiki huh? I thought she would be tougher than that, to bad though I was expecting more of a fight." Naruto's eyes widened when he sensed a familiar chakra signature behind him.

"Really, you wanted a fight then how about I stop playing around a give it to you then Naruto?" Suddenly a sharp pain went through Naruto's side. He looked down and saw that there was a kunai sticking out of his right ribcage.

He spat out even more blood as he looked behind him and saw Larxene. "Now come with me Namikaze."

"No... I'm not... ugh...going anywhere!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed the blade and thrust it back out of his ribs he spun around and hit Larxene with a powerful backhand sending her crashing into one of the many street side markets that were run by local Konoha villagers.

"Fuck you, and good luck catching me!" Naruto yelled as he disappeared in a flash of speed. His blood still staining the spot where he stood.

"How troublesome." She said as she looked around. "Uh sorry about the boy folks, I'll have him captured in a matter of minutes." She raised her hands up to plead with the scared villagers.

"G-Good, now go get 'em!" Said a random villager. Giving a thumbs up she closed her eyes and pulsed her chakra. "Found you." Larxene then disappeared.

--

Naruto breathed hard as he jumped through the forest looking for a place to rest. He saw a thick tree and decided that that would be the spot for a pit stop.

"Damn, she got me." Naruto said as he rested on the trunk of a large tree. He gazed at the sun trying to catch his breath, his Kekkei Genkai deactivated and his eyes back to blue.

"Hey Kyuubi, hurry up and finish healing my wound already."

**"Don't rush me, if apply to much chakra to the wound that could end up doing more harm then good."**

'Alright, just hurry it up, I want to go and kick that bitch's ass already.'

**"Oh yeah, kick her ass like you did back in Konoha?" **Kyuubi asked in a very sarcastic way.

'Shut up Kyuubi. I should kick your ass."

Naruto listened to the sounds of the forest, scanning them for any signs of Larxene. Thye only sound that Naruto really wanted to hear was the slight burning sound that came from his wounds healing.

'Damn, how could have not sensed her presence behind me, she got me. My jutsu's didn't work against her and she's got crazy strength.' "I've really got to think of a way to beat her before she gets to me." Naruto said as his wound fully healed up.

"Too late Namikaze." Naruto's head jerked at the sound of her voice. He looked around in many directions. Left, up, down, right...there she was. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Larxene sitting right next to him with a happy grin on her face.

Naruto said nothing, he was simply frozen, compared to this girl who was only a year older than him he might as well have been. Her speed made Naruto look like a slug.

"H-How fast are you?"

"I don't know, how about you help me figure that out." Larxene said as she back handed him into the tree he was against. That back hand was soon followed by a swift left punch that Naruto barely evaded by ducking. She then spun around and attempted to hit him a spinning back kick but Naruto dodged by jumping up sticking to the side of the tree with her under him.

"Don't run!" Larxene went after Naruto but he jumped out of the way, he then flipped flipped over so that he was upside down a facing her. He then started to make many hand seals.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" (Wind release: great breakthrough) Naruto brought his hand to his mouth and took in a deep breath, he blew out a huge gust at Larxene. It would have done a lot of damage if it had hit her, but unfortunately for Naruto Larxene was already gone. Naruto watched as his blast of air destroyed the tree and ripped it to pieces.

"Too bad you missed." She said from behind him. Before Naruto could react she grabbed his arms and placed them at his side, she then went into a suicide lotus style pile driver. As both of them fell down the gained speed, going faster and faster.

'Damn.' Naruto thought, he made reach for his kunai pouch, grabbing two kunai out of it but it was to late the hard ground was his inevitable destination.

'NO!!'

"Bye bye!" Both blonds hit the ground with terrible force, scattering dust and rock everywhere, the end result a huge crater made by the force of their impact. There was a huge plume of dust in the air, by the looks of the crash, it seemed as if both blonds had been injured by the suicidal move, but that idea was gone as Larxene jumped back out of the smoke. She waited for the dust to clear.

"I hope I didn't kill him, master Zexin would be furious with me if I did." She held her breath in hopes of Naruto not being dead but when the dust settled her eyebrows rose in shock when she saw Naruto seemingly floating in the air inches above the ground.

He held on to a thin piece of string in both of his hands, it looked he was hanging by something invisible. She looked at where his hands were pointed snd saw two kunai lodged into the side of two trees, connected to them were two strings of thread, the same two that Naruto was holding onto.

Larxene gasp at her new found revelation, Naruto hadn't taken any damage at all, he flicked two kunai out at the last moment and using the string that was attached to them he pulled himself up, forcing her to let go of him at the last second and making her take all of the damage. It was smart plan, Larxene would have to admit that, but it got her mad that he actually pulled it off.

"Y-You...this is an outrage!" Naruto looked at her and let go of his two strings letting himself fall into the crater.

"Man that's some tough thread." Naruto said as he landed on his feet. Suddenly he saw a flash of black and yellow go into the crater.

"Baka...baka, you think you're so smart!Coming up with that plan to escape my attack. Well I-I have you know that I've got much more energy than that so a little fall like that won't damage my body!"

Larxene circled Naruto over and over, creating afterimages of herself and making it look like there's more than one of her. Naruto frantically looked around trying to figure out which one was the real Larxene.

"You see Naruto Namikaze, you can't beat my speed...I've got an idea how about you use that geostigma of yours on me, show me its real ability!" She laughed wildly as she dashed around the blond nin. "Come on...do it!"

Naruto felt something pierce his right arm, he looked down and saw that it was bleeding. Another sharp pain hit his left leg, it to began to bleed. Naruto saw two shuriken on the ground, he suspected that that was what hit him. (Nooo really?) Soon Naruto was slowly bombarded with shuriken after shuriken, his body riddled with cuts, they would heal, but with this many shuriken coming at him it wouldn't matter if they heal because two new cuts were made every time one healed itself.

"You...want me to use it?" Naruto said.

"Yes...yes use it Namikaze, use before I cut up that nice face of yours."

"Well...ahh!" Naruto had to switch between talking and receiving the pain from the numerous shuriken that hacked away at his body. "I can't really use it that much, I don't even know what it does, when I... use it gives me a boost in chakra, but other than that I have no idea what to do with it."

Larxene stopped circling Naruto and stopped right in front of him. She grabbed him by his collar and picked him up like before. "W-What do you mean that you can't use it? Then what's the point of you being a Namikaze?"

Naruto stared into the eyes of his female opponent, then he remembered. What that letter had said, the true nature of the geostigma, manipulators that's what the Namikaze were, manipulators of elements. The Namikaze and their ability to manipulate nature in every aspect and form. He looked down at the ground and moved his hand while flashing his Kekkei Genkai on.

"W-What are you doing?" Larxene asked, not aware of what was about to happen to her." He moved his finger upward and a tiny segement of the ground moved with it.

His eyes began to move, the orange tint that came from his pupil became an orange ring that circled his entire pupil. Not failing to notice this Larxene let go of him and backed away cautiously. "Answer me, what a-are you doing with those eyes?!" Her voice was shaky, afraid.

Naruto saw this and smiled. "I said that I didn't know what these eyes of mine did, well guess what...I just found out!" Naruto threw a punch in the air and a rock burst out of the ground in front of Larxene and smashed into her, ramming her into a tree before finally breaking from impact.

She let out a little squeak at the pain and fell to her hands and her knees.

"Elemental manipulators, the true nature of the Namikaze and their Kekkei Genkai, we use our special chakra to manipulate the many aspects of nature and all its elements."

Larxene shakily got up and faced Naruto, she had gotten cut badly by a sharp piece of bark and was bleeding badly.

"If...w-what you say is true and you just learned how to utilize its potential only seconds ago then why is it that you can use it so well?"

Naruto laughed while holding his head high in an arrogant snobby fashion. "Well since you want to know I'll tell you, the thing is... my chakra is extremely flexible giving me advanced chakra control, and as you can see learning something that would usually take days to learn will only take a days or even less depending on what it is."

Naruto stomped on the ground and another rock pillar burst out of the ground and hitting Larxene in the stomach and knocking her into the air.

'If I can manipulate earth how about..fire. Let your chakra flare, enrage it, make it feral.' Naruto sucked in a deep breath, he felt the heat rising in himself and his chakra. He blew out a large torrent of red flames, sending them straight for Larxene.

Larxene watched as the flames rushed in closer to her cloaked body. The bright flames illuminated her emerald eyes, brightened her skin, beauty before death was what Larxene had just become. She saw just beyond the corner of the flame, Naruto standing there waiting for it to burn her flesh off. She closed her eyes waiting to feel the heat of the boy's attack.

"Damn." She said, but when she opened her eyes to see the flames that meant her doom they widened. The brightly torrent of fire that had once come after her was gone and she began to fall. Only to be caught in the hands of Naruto.

"H-Huh, but why didn't you kill me?" Naruto looked out into the distance. "I'm the enemy so kill me."

He shook his head. "Nah I'd rather keep you alive, and besides I need you for information on your organization. So consider yourself lucky, I'm sparing you...for now."

"Heh, how disgraceful I got beaten by a twelve year old." She then passed out.

Naruto looked at her and then looked at her wounds, then to his already healing ones.

"Stupid, you're only thirteen, there's not that much of an age difference." Then it hit him. "Wait, my house, I fucking blew a hole in the door...damn it! It's not even nighttime yet." Naruto just noticed it, it was only afternoon, what was he supposed to do for the rest of the day, he just beat some blond chick and figures out how to use it...now what was he supposed to do?

Really... what the hell was he supposed to do? (A question that I have never found the answer to)

--

Naruto was seriously pissed, he just got attacked by the girl he was holding in his hands, he was tired and sore, the village still hated him, and know there was a fucking hole in spot where his door was supposed to be. What else could go wrong? Well there was the fact that he was so low on chakra that he didn't have enough energy to run back to his house, he had to walk all the way back to his small apartment carrying Larxene, and boy was she heavy. All the villagers looked at him in fear and disgust. As if they all thought that he had just finished raping the young blond, then proceeded to beat her.

Even though that's not what really went down, the sight of him walking down the street with a young blond girl who had ripped up clothes, was bleeding and slung over his shoulder wasn't to nice. He couldn't just walk past with an unconscious girl and say 'Oh no, it's not what you think, she actually tried to abduct me. Funny story actually..you see insert alaby that no one will believe here.' Yeah that wasn't something Naruto was used to explaining.

Finally he got to the second story floor that was supposed to hold his front door, instead there was a giant hole courtesy of Naruto, in place it.

Naruto stood in front of the unsightly damage done to his door, and simply observed. Observed with a twitching eyes and throbbing vein popping out of his head.

"This fucking sucks." He looked down at the still unconscious Larxene shrugged and walked through the door. He went into his room, one of the few undamaged parts of the apartment and placed her on his bed. It was kind of stupid to put the enemy on your own bed but it was what he could do at the time.

He walked back to his broken door grumbled. "This is all her fault." He said. Now all Naruto needed to do was interrogate Larxene about the Saiki and he could let her go or kill her if he felt like it...plus he also had a plus sized hole where his door was supposed to be. Yeah...he would have to figure out what to do about that later but that girl came first.

He came back in his room where Larxene was still sleeping soundly on his bed. He looked at her sleeping face, contemplating on whether or not he should wake her up right there on the spot. He had to admit though, for a supposedly evil member of an organization of people connected to the divine she sure seemed like a normal girl, if you subtracted the tightly fitted trench coat but then if you subtracted that she would be naked.

All of this swirled around Naruto's highly developed brain but immediately stopped when he came to the thought of seeing Larxene naked, he didn't need that right now all he needed was information.

**"Oh Naruto-kun I know what you're thinking, have you taken a liking to this girl here. She does have a pretty face you know and her body matches well with it too." **

'No way, I'll admit she looks good but she's a member of the Saiki, she tried to kill me if you don't remember. And besides Kyuubi how do you know what she looks like?"

**"Simple, I just see what you see. Its like I'm looking at a big screen television and the outside world is the channel." **Naruto tapped his chin before looking once more at the sleeping blond girl on his bed, then he noticed that some of her clothing was ripped up revealing a great deal of her developing bosom. He leaned in closer to take a look, but quickly ducked back when he heard Kyuubi laughter in the back of his head.

"No it's definetly not worth it." Naruto said while shaking his head side to side.

**"Hah, I'll give you an hour, I bet that by then you would have already raped this girl in her sleep!" **

Naruto cocked his head to the side. 'Don't be such a dumb ass Kyuubi, I detest rapist and I would never become one of them.' He thought as he closed his eyes and sat down in front of his bed in a lotus style position.

--

This time it was different, instead of thirteen people they only had twelve. Everything was there, brightly lit room, check. Erie atmosphere, check. thirteen people in black trench coats, a no go, They were missing one person.

So unlike last time eleven people stood in a brightly lit room, they all stood around a twelfth person who was the esteemed leader.

"It seems someone here is missing." Zexin spoke in an stoic tone. "Does anyone know the were abouts of a certain Larxene Leones?" When no one answered he chuckled. "I see then, our little savage nymph has failed then, no matter she was not of importance to us." Zexin said in an uncaring manner.

"She may have not been important to you...but she was to me!"

Zexin turned to face the person who wielded voice that angry, His hood still covering his face.

"Ah, Lark Leones, you grace this hall once again with another one of your unrequested outburst. Oh I'm sorry it seems that I have forgotten but is Larxene not your younger sister?" Lark pulled off his black hood to show his angry face to Zexin and the others.

"Yes and that's why I don't appreciate you speaking of her as if she was a useless toy!"

"Don't take it that way Lark, as I can't use a toy to my advantage, she would be more like a tool, that's something I can use."

Lark's green eyes that matched that of his sister's went a blaze, he balled his fist up and looked down. "Don't speak of her like that I said!" Lark said behind gritted teeth.

Zexin took off his hood, revealing long silver hair and piercing red eyes to Lark and stared at him with glare so cold and so chilling that it could probably freeze hell over.

"Remember Lark, it was you who brought her into this, you introduced her to this world...my world and so long as she remains in it I can speak of her in anyway I choose." Lark took a couple steps back and his breathing quickened, Zexin's glare was hard and evil enough to make him feel his own heart beating. In other words Lark just got punked.

Lark tried staring down his leader but it was of no avail, he needed to get out of that room and now.

"I-I shall go and look for her, if I brought into your world t-t-then I'll go and bring her back to it." He turned around and tried to walk away but something stopped him, some feeling in his body telling him that if he took another step he might have dropped dead right there.

"I don't recall asking you to go and retrieve her Lark, please come back."

Lark turned around with an angry expression on his face, his teeth grounded into each other. He wanted to tell his 'leader' to piss off right then and there but he couldn't bring himself up to do so. So he just stood there, hoping that Zexin would let him go and find his little sister...too bad Zexin wasn't the type of man to let anything go.

"Lark, you still didn't take your initial position and that would make me very unhappy if you did not follow orders." The Lark felt it again, that feeling like he was staring death in the face, but this time he felt a great deal of it, more like he was staring the Shinigami in the face.

"Yes, Zexin-sama."

"Good, Lark-kun."

He was nothing compared to Zexin, when it came to power he had Lark beaten. But drive was a different thing, when it came to drive Lark was number one. His drive to protect his sister was greater that Zexin's unknown personal drive. He would have to find away to sneak out and save Larxene without Zexin catching him and he would do it by any means neccesary. But he had to give it to Zexin, really he should thank him, Zexin made him feel something that the twenty four year old Lark had not felt in a long time.

Fear. Thanks, he almost forgot what it felt like. But that wouldn't stop Lark Leones from reaching his sister.

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Oh yeah chapter four is out and actually I think I did a good job. So was that enough badassness for ya, I hope so.

Here's what I've been getting for the Harem idea. By what people say the top choices are.

1.Hinata

2.Tenten

3.Fem-Haku(okaaay)

4.Anko

5.Yugito

6.Larxene (Personally I think that's a good choice.)

I plan to Narrow it down to five people, and five shall be the max for me. Oh yeah and I ne that you can't figure out who that 'angel' who visited Hinata really was, think about that one and tell me in a review. It may not make much sense now but really the answer is right in front of you, so don't think to hard on it.

Lark has officially stepped into the story, so you will see more of him and if you want to know who he looks like just google up Axel from kingdom hearts, now picture him with shorter blond hair and green eyes. And for Zexin, it should be obvious, he's just Xemnas with really red eyes. A character who's name was mentioned in the last chapter will also play a part in this but it isn't as important as...say Lark's. But if you want to picture him, google up Xaldin from Kingdom hearts, but I won't tell you what facial adaptations I've made to his face just yet, You'll know that when he steps in.

Um I don't really have that much more to say but I really really need reviews, come on people work with me. I want to hit at least one hundred reviews before I send out my next chapter. So if you guys want the next chap out then could please step it up with the reviews, I'll start this and see how it goes, so with every chapter I'll set a mark for the number of reviews that I want to get to. So in simple words, the more reviews I get the faster the next chapter comes out.

Read and Review

Next Chapter : Interrogation.

Grim is steppin out


	5. Interrogation

(Sigh) Here we go again; uh this is my fifth chapter in total.

If you didn't know, I HAVE JUST DELETED my first story, it wasn't doing to good, so I gave it to my good friend the recycle bin. Anyway Like I was saying, fifth chapter, Larxene is introduced as of now as a main character, and a candidate for the harem. Know if you guys didn't see this in my last chapter, then I'll tell it to you right now. I want reviews...like seriously I want to get to at least over one hundred or something so help me out here. Adding to my great news, I'd like to say that I have renamed my story it is now called Sacred Mark of The Rising Kekkei Genkai, not that much of a change really. I was tired of people telling me that they kept getting confused about the title and that it was misleading. Apparently using one word from a movie can lead people into getting the entirely wrong idea about the story.

Well according to reviews, I have somewhat of an idea of what the harem is going to be. So I have an updated list at the end of the chapter.

I'll post a new chapter depending on how many reviews I get, at the end of every chapter I'll tell you the quantity of reviews that I will want to get at the end of each chapter so...READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES THEY CONTAIN GOOD INFO, and just for fun I might throw in some character bios just to let you guys get a little insight on the characters of this fic. I may not do it in this chap but I'll do it sooner or later, with reviews.

Oh and one more thing before the story, I've been asking this for some time now but I still haven't figured this out. Don't think me stupid for asking this but how exactly is it that a person gets a beta reader. Will someone tell in either a review or PM (private message) and make sure that it's detailed; ok now I'm done.

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas (You'll never get me to stop doing this)

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai. (New title!)

He investigates, Will she confess, He goes on a mission.

Larxene woke up to the sound of light snoring. She opened her eyes, looking only to see Naruto's face to her side. The snoring was coming from him; he sat in a cross legged lotus style position with his hands on his knees. She looked at Naruto's face then to back at the ceiling in which she woke up looking at.

Her sides ached and she was still short of breath, Naruto had dealt more damage to her body than she thought. She made one more glance at Naruto before sighing, loudly.

Still looking at his face she spoke to his sleeping face.

"You blond bastard, you beat me but don't worry, I'll get come back and kill you myself." Larxene hoisted herself up with the little strength that she still had left in her petite body. She moved in the bed. It creaked. Naruto twitched slightly.

Then it hit her, Larxene looked down at her black trench coat, which was now decorated with tiny cuts and fairly sized tears in the fabric. Her attire was pretty beat up and had quite a few tears in the upper abdomen region which did nothing but reveal part of her bust to Naruto. With a blush she quickly shuffled around and covered her chest with the available material in the room, her hands.

With a speed as slow as slow could get she threw another quick look at Naruto. She sighed, he was still sleeping.

"Good...He's asleep, still asleep." She didn't even know why she cared though, he was her target, her mission was to kill him, and it shouldn't have mattered. Yet she still cared whether or not he saw anything. Maybe it was her just being insecure, maybe. She knew that she couldn't stay here, if the rest of the organization found out about her being saved by the enemy then they would probably have her head on a silver, fully decorated platter. Well everyone but her brother.

Lark was his name. The name of her brother and the name of the reason why she was even part of the organization called Saiki. Mental images of her brother flowed through her mind as she stared out the window and into the moon. It was full this time, not like that night. Not like the night her and Lark pledged their loyalty to the Saiki. The first time she was introduced to master Zexin Larxene was only nine years old; she with her brother and the moon had been new that new. It was his fault that she was in this position being trapped in the enemy's home, if this old broken excuse of an apartment could be called a home.

Another loud sigh crawled out of her mouth. Naruto twitched again. It may have been her brother's fault but she still loved him and she would continue to love, no matter what it was that Saiki said or did she would still be his sister. But that wasn't important right now , now she needed to get the hell out of this hell hole and come back to kill the demon that lived in it, the blond demon.

Gathering up some strength she pushed herself up again. The bed creaked.

"Don't move." She froze up; Larxene sat there frozen in the most peculiar of poses in front of a now awake Naruto.

"Why shouldn't I move huh?"

"Because I've got some things that I need to ask you, and they need to ask right now." Larxene frowned; the wrinkles on her forehead came out of their hiding. She stared at Naruto trying to mentally convey the message that she didn't want to stay in his house. It continued for what seemed like minutes, seconds for Naruto however. But the platinum blonde Saiki member silently sat back down on the bed when she saw Naruto's eyes express a flash of orange. Her legs tightly shut and her hands placed on them.

"Good, now I want you to tell me something, something about the Saiki." Naruto noticed that her body physically tensed when he mentioned the word Saiki, he would be sure to store it away in his mind and save as his trump card. Seeing her reaction to the word Saiki Naruto stayed silent and looked at her or looked at the top of her head anyway for Larxene hung her head down low not showing her face. She only showed the naturally light color of her blond strands.

"I won't tell you." Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"You, a vulnerable, damaged blond girl who was technically an assassin and infiltrated the borders of Konohagakure no Sato under the orders of a possible enemy and will be put to death if she doesn't tell me what I want. I don't think you're in the position to be not cooperating…Larxene."

Larxene narrowed her eyes at Naruto, if she wanted to she could kick his black jacket wearing ass and bust out of this shabby place, but something told him not to do it, maybe it was her gut or maybe it was the fact that she realized that she could possibly be killed over trying to assassinate Naruto. It was probably that gut feeling of hers.

"You know for a member of the Saiki, you're not what I expected, fine if you won't tell me then I won't ask anymore." Naruto began to walk out the door but before he fully walked out he turned around and said this: "But if you won't agree to give the information that I want then I'm afraid that you won't be able to leave this apartment." He then turned around and proceeded to walkout of the room.

Larxene stayed quiet for a moment and laughed, it was a loud laugh, the sort of laugh that someone would use to mock a person; more of a cackle. She was thinking about leaving right there just to show him how wrong he was. She flared her chakra and gathering about as much force as she could possibly gather up in her current state.

"This should be enough to get through the wall." She said in a mockingly peppy way. "Let me think…use a jutsu, break down the walls. Oh I know! I'll use a jutsu. She made a rapid sequence of hand signs, ending in the tiger seal.

"Katon: Gouk-… "Suddenly Larxene's arms contracted and bent themselves behind her back. Her arms going out in wild spasms, next thing she knew the same thing was happening to her legs, they made her roll of the bed and fall onto her knees. She screamed out from the pain in her arms. Did Naruto hear it? She tried moving her arms but that only made the pain worse, likewise the pain in her legs.

"What the hell is this?! Namikaze, just what the hell did you do to me while I was unconscious?!" She heard the faint sound of Naruto yelling behind the closed door. She couldn't quite completely make out what it was that he said but it sounded as if he had told her to stay here until he came back. But surely that wasn't happening; he honestly wouldn't leave a potentially dangerous threat just flailing around alone in his house.

Well he did, for all she heard in response to her screaming was the door closing, which she had no idea how he fixed. She thrashed about wildly, whipping the short strands of hair from her face as she fell and rolled all over the floor. Something of this magnitude would not go over well with her, it never did, and Larxene would get her revenge on the Namikaze brat…just as soon as she got out of this restraining position. She continued to fall about Naruto's room, not wanting to see her angry face at that moment.

So she continued.

--

(Elsewhere)

Naruto was bored at the moment, he couldn't figure out what he wanted to do at the moment. Sure he could have interrogated Larxene as soon as he woke up, but he figured that she wouldn't cooperate without a fight. He would have won that fight too. Still, with nothing to do but wait until she cooled off Naruto began to mentally pace.

"What to do, what to do, what to do?" He said as he savored not having to look at the stagnant stares of the ongoing pedestrians who were aware of his existence as the Kyuubi's container. "What do you think Kyuubi?"

A low rumble sounded in Naruto's head indicating that the great Kyuubi no Kitsune was thinking.

**"You could always train."** Naruto mentally sighed at his furry red inner demon. He expected more from a great immortal who has basically traveled the worlds both above and under, who's seen the Shinigami and still lives, if this was the best that his faithful Bijuu could then he shouldn't have bothered asking.

"Honestly is that all you can think about gaining power, I'm getting stronger by the day, so is training really necessary?"

**"Hell yeah it is, so get to training…..what?"** Naruto sat down in his trademark lotus position and closed his eyes; diving into his own private mindscape.

(Mindscape)

Naruto stood in front of his demon's gate, the big bars, the seal and the pipes that did nothing but crawl all over his mind. Kyuubi's home, just like he remembered it. Dark, wet, cold… Damn his mind was cold, it was a wonder that he didn't get brain freeze. (I said it) He would have to ask Kyuubi about that.

Now was the time for him to ask.

Hot demonic breath flew out of Kyuubi's huge maw and blew past Naruto's face, blowing back the unruly golden strands of that were placed about on top of his head. His black jacket blew in sync with the rhythmic blast of air that made their way out of Kyuubi's jaws. Naruto's eyes squinted in accordance to the rhythm as well.

The giant sealed gate sported a pair of menacing crimson eyes that were locked onto Naruto, the eyes of a nine tailed fox; they always had a slight tilt to them it made them look angry. Naruto would have to ask him about that as well…

Now was the time. He looked around sucking in the mental image of his inner sanctum then his eyes went back toward Kyuubi. He began to walk and began to smile…it was more of a hardcore grin though.

"Hey sorry for budging in all of a sudden, but I forgot what it was like in here, and I just figured out what I was that I wanted to do while I wait for that girl to cool off." Naruto smiled from the slight tensing of Kyuubi's body he felt through their mental link. He placed his hand on his chin while still approaching the giant bars that held Kyuubi. He wondered if Kyuubi knew what it was that he was about to do. Invasion of privacy was something Kyuubi would never get used to.

**"What are you doing?"** Naruto continued to walk with his grin taped to his face. Suddenly a claw shot out of the iron bars, aimed for Naruto's face and they held nothing but power a deadly precision. But when the claw hit Naruto's forehead it did nothing. The claw of a demon did nothing against the forehead of a child, not a scratch or even a nick. The claw just came out and hit without leaving a trail of blood.

Naruto looked at Kyuubi's giant claw and sighed. He rubbed his hand on the nail of his 'pet' fox. It was hard, harder than steel. After a few seconds of rubbing he put his hand in the air and wagged his finger mockingly.

"Not in here Kyuubi, this is my mind remember? I control it and its entirety, so in here I make the rules, in here the great Kyuubi no Kitsune is a powerful as an academy student." Naruto tapped Kyuubi's claw in order to demonstrate, his tap created a series of cracks where he struck. "As you know my mind is powerful Kyuubi so do not try it."

He smiled when he heard Kyuubi's low gasp ensue his claw retracting back into the sealed gate that held him. Naruto continued his walk toward Kyuubi's gate.

**"Don't come in."**

"Why?"

**"Just don't you brat."**

"Nah, I think I will come in."

**"No."**

"Yes, in three, two, and one." Naruto walked fully past the bars the of Kyuubi's gate, remembering the feel of the iron bars before he walked in. Cold, hard, lonely, helpless, that's what they felt like or was it what Kyuubi felt. Did those bars tell Naruto how Kyuubi felt; they could've been the reason Kyuubi felt those feelings. The reason Kyuubi was such a grumpy, mean, belligerent, lonely asshole was because of these bars. His drive to get out of Naruto was so strong that it had made Naruto think… What was the true reason for him giving his true self back?

"This is what it's like in here?" Kyuubi's huge eyes drifted away from Naruto and off into a dark corner of his cell. "Is this what it's like Kyuubi, damn no wonder you wanted to get out so badly." Without looking back at Naruto Kyuubi responded.

**"I still do kit, I just don't know how to do that yet."** Naruto for some reason felt sad after Kyuubi's response, this fox was trapped with no hope of escape, all his father's doing. Naruto walked up to Kyuubi's snout and placed his hand on top of it. Kyuubi's eyes drifted back to Naruto, crimson on black.

"Kyuubi, as much as you want to you can't get out of this place, you're trapped in my mind, it's not my fault but it's yours." Kyuubi's eyes cringed, he wanted to say something in retaliation but he withheld it. He did say something though.

**"Are you sure it's my fault I'm in here, Naruto-kun?"** Naruto furrowed his eyebrow slightly.

"What do you mean Kyuubi, you attacked Konoha without warning and my father gave his life to seal you in me and save Konoha!"

**"Is that what they told you? Correction Naruto-kun, I attacked Konoha out of retaliation from an attempt to kill me." **

Naruto inched backward; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He always thought that Kyuubi was naturally evil and attacked Konoha because of sheer bloodlust. Konoha attacked him, the sealed him away because he wanted revenge; none of this was even his fault as Naruto had thought a couple of seconds ago. If what Kyuubi was saying was right then it was Konoha who brought the demon's wrath upon themselves.

**"Let me show you something Naruto."** Kyuubi closed his eyes, as if imagining something. Then all of a sudden the demon's fur started to stand on end, he opened his huge mouth and let out a roar of fury. His fur began to recede back into his skin, his head started to shrink along with his body; from what Naruto could see in the dark chamber Kyuubi curled up into a ball. His jaws shrank, his claws shrank, and he was beginning to become more humanoid.

As Kyuubi continued his transformation a wide eyed Naruto noticed something, a certain smell in the air, it smelled putrid, rancid, dead. It was as if with the oncoming of Kyuubi's transformation the entire atmosphere changed within his mind; was the room smelling of fear? Something that Naruto always thought he was of good acquaintance with; something he thought he had already felt before; he had but this was different. This fear was a type of fear he had never felt and thought in existed, Naruto was feeling fear in its most primal stage.

The smell grew stronger and forced Naruto to close his eyes to keeping them from feeling the burning sensation in the air; he covered his nose with his hands to block out the smell, his body went numb from the massive amount of fear he was feeling, he could only taste and hear at the moment. Tasting wouldn't do anything but he could still hear the shifting and shuffling of Kyuubi's fur as he continued his transformation. Gurgling noises, organs shifting around? Naruto could hear it all, and then he heard one final thing, another roar from Kyuubi.

He opened his eyes, unplugged his nose, his body regained its feeling. He didn't see Kyuubi; he was looking in the wrong place. The smell went away.

**"Naruto, I'm over here."** Naruto's head snapped downward, he expected to… well he really didn't know what to expect, he was going for a chibitized form of Kyuubi, but who he saw was very much out of the ordinary. He saw Kyuubi, but it definitely wasn't what he was expected. He heard his voice and it definitely what Naruto expected to hear, the once deep demonic voice had changed into a reserved young man's voice, masculine yet soft at the same time.

**"This is me in my true form, or at least what used to be my true form. This is how I looked like before I was attacked and transformed into the giant nine-tailed vermin that I am." **

In front of Naruto stood a tall man, he was muscled and slender, his slicked back deep red hair reached all the way to his mid back. His crimson eyes matched his red battle suit; which was more like a formal suit. Pinstriped black and red was his battle outfit and his shoes were pitch black and polished to a point that they actually gleamed with the little light that Kyuubi's cell provided the both of them with. His face was long and slightly animalistic, and his expression gave him an air of intelligence, much like that of a fox's. His face was adorned with six whisker marks' three on each side.

To Naruto's disbelief this was Kyuubi, he stepped back only to hit the cold bars of Kyuubi's cell. What was this all about, he didn't understand any of it. Why was Kyuubi in this form, what was the truth behind Konoha's attack on him. Now was the time to ask questions.

"K-Kyuubi, what is this, why do you look like this?"

**"This is what I looked like before that old fool turned me into the nine-tailed fox. I can only change into this form in here because as you know the laws of reality don't apply and I can do anything with your permission of course."** Naruto made a motion to speak, but Kyuubi cut him off before he could speak. **"Before we speak Naruto, if you would be so kind as to give us a better place to speak in."**

"Excuse me?" Naruto answered confused. Kyuubi sighed and shook his head. Naruto wasn't getting what he meant.

**"I mean that I want you to change the inside of this cell and make it better."** Naruto expression changed, he seemed to be getting the fox's request. **"Use your imagination."** Naruto closed his eyes. He imagined what Kyuubi would like the inside of his cell to be like. He imagined a room lit by candles and a fireplace, warm and comfortable. Two big and soft old-fashioned chairs materialized in the dark cell and the cell itself began to match Naruto's mental image. A large wooden table with two chairs on either end in the middle of a dim room. In the far corner, a mini-bar formed itself, already filled with the normal necessities. A piano formed on the opposite end of the bar and a king sized bed made its way into the room near the north corner of the huge room.

Naruto, opened his eyes, the mental image in his mind sprang to life in front of him. Kyuubi's cell was now a dim, laid-back loft.

"How's this?"

**"Perfect, now we can talk. Take a seat."** Both of them took their seats on the opposite end of the table, Naruto was on the right; Kyuubi on the left, the large crystal chandelier on the ceiling was in middle. Naruto placed his elbows to his face and sat in a very Sasuke style position. Kyuubi merely sat with his hands on the armrest of the chair and his legs crossed. They stared at each other.

"Now what was this about Konoha attacking you now? And who was this old fool?" Kyuubi brought his lips into a taint narrow lipped smile. "Tell me the whole story."

**"You know Naruto the connections between humans and things like me have always been hazy. For decades humans have tried to defy us and our demands, we've constantly fought for dominance over the land, unfortunately humans have found a way to defeat us."**

"What exactly are you Kyuubi?"Naruto said with a frown. Kyuubi sighed and motioned his hand towards the bar. Naruto looked in the direction and noticed that a bottle of sake was pouring itself into two saucers, just floating in mid-air. Kyuubi made another motion and the two saucers along with the bottle of sake floated over toward Naruto and Kyuubi. The bottle settled in the middle of the table under the chandelier.

"Sake…?" Naruto scratched his chin and looked up. "Well I'm too young to drink alcohol." Kyuubi brought up a finger.

**"Not in here you're not. In here the inescapable touch of reality does not apply remember? In your mind you can get drunk and when you go back to the outside you won't feel a thing."** Naruto smiled and took a hand to the saucer.

"Well then if you put it that way… cheers." Naruto took a sip of sake; he almost gagged at its strong taste. It was bitter and gave him a slight burning sensation in the back of his throat. He clenched his eyes from the unique taste of the alcohol and held it in his throat before finally swallowing it. Kyuubi laughed at Naruto's reaction to the burning liquid.

"Oh my god…! This is what Sake taste like; adults must be fucking crazy! Kyuubi shook his head and took a long drag of his sake.

**"On the contrary Naruto-kun, this Sake only tastes like what you imagined it to be, bitter, burning, repulsive, and strong. Because I know what sake taste like I can mimic the taste by myself."**

"Oh. Lucky you." Naruto said sarcastically.

"**No I'm not really that lucky. I would not be here if I were. Now to address your question on what it was that I am. Have you ever heard of the term evolution Naruto?"**

Naruto nodded. "Yeah I read about it. The theory of development from earlier forms: All species develop from earlier forms of life by the theoretical process. Well according to what I read this theory states that natural variation in the genetic material of a population favors reproduction by some individuals more than others, so that over the generations all members of the population come to possess the favorable traits. But what does that have to do with anything?"

**"It has to with everything. Because evolution was the process that started this struggle between you humans and things like us."**

"WHAT exactly are you though?" Naruto asked putting extra emphasis on the 'what'. Kyuubi took another long drag of sake and motioned for the bottle to give him a refill. He looked at Naruto who had not touched his saucer after that first sip.

**"What's wrong Naruto, aren't you going to drink your sake?"** Naruto shook his head quickly and pushed the deep white plate away from him. He cocked his head to the side.

"I'd rather not, sake's not my thing." Naruto said as he nudged the saucer all the way to Kyuubi's side of the table. "You can have my round if you want." Kyuubi chuckled.

**"Anyway to your question on what it is that I am… well how can I put it? Technically I'm human but just less than you." **

"Just what is that supposed to mean?"

**"I told you that evolution started this bout between humans and us, well you humans are us, except you have just evolved from us. Long ago before humans were the way they were, you were exactly like us, powerful, animalistic, feral and impulsive. We were the first species of what you have become; we looked virtually the same as you do despite some of our more primal features such as my whisker marks, fangs, claws and slit pupils and claws."** Kyuubi tapped the polished wood of the table on with one of his claws. **"There were some differences between us that make us different from you; they were internal differences that can't be seen; only some of them were external."**

**"Certain changes in our genetic make-up began to change. Our fangs and claws died down over the many decades, our pupils lost its animal feature. As the years passed by our bodies favored certain genetic material that began to grow—only to become the dominant gene in our body. Those were our brain cells, the neurons and glial cells that help in the process of transferring information from our brains to our bodies. To make it simple-we were basically getting smarter as we evolved. Most of us lost our immortality. The human brain began to realize its potential and immortality was getting in the way of it doing that. That was not the only drawback to this evolution, our chakra system. We have immense amounts of chakra but for some odd reason as our brains grew our chakra coils became weaker, it's the reason normal humans don't have as much chakra as me."**

"So as you got smarter you got weaker. Damn that sucks for you. So wait here's the thing I don't understand if you became so weak how is that you're so strong Kyuubi?"

**"Ah, I was getting to that; I said that some of us lost our immortality but not all of us. Example: me. I along with eight others have retained our immortality and did not evolve with the rest of the human race. I'm actually glad that I didn't evolve though, tch losing this type of power would be a curse."**

"So why is it that you seem so smart Kyuubi, if you didn't evolve then how are you this smart?"

**"Because of you, while inside of you I placed my seal on you and it locked away part of your mind, body and chakra. When the seal was released your chakra began to come back to you, your body became stronger and your brains cells rapidly developed but not on a grand scale such as evolution. When that happened I got all of that too because of my link with you, but because I don't have a body I can't develop one; so all I got was the chakra, not a lot but just enough to pump up my mind to the point of intelligence that is on par with you higher humans."**

Naruto stared at Kyuubi, eyebrow raised. "Uh ok I get it you're smart."

**"Anymore questions Naruto-kun?"**

"No, I think Ojiisan can answer the rest of those questions."

**"It was nice speaking with you then."** Naruto nodded and closed his eyes.

"Kyuubi try not to be so lonely in here, I'll give you the power to do what you want in this cell so have fun." Naruto closed his eyes.

(Outside world)

Naruto opened his eyes, he saw nothing but forest. He stretched from the stiffness in his legs and back. His next destination was the Hokage tower; he had to have a little chat with Ojiisan about a certain nine-tailed vermin.

--

Her arms still hurt from the pain of the seal placed on her; if she didn't move then she wouldn't feel the pain. It was around noon when she figured this out.

Larxene sat directly parallel to Naruto's bed; her arms were still in their restricted position but the pain had gone away. Only when she didn't move was when the pain subsided. He face was laced with a thin layer of sweat form thrashing around inside the cramped room. Her hair, horrible, was strewn about over her face and barely covered her eyes. The sun shone in through the window; shining directly on her; as if it wanted to single her out.

"Why did this happen to me; why is it that I am the one to get captured?" She sighed in exasperation. "I'll try one more time and if I can't break the seal then I guess that I'm going to have to just give up." It didn't even matter anymore though; if Zexin-sama finds out that I'm in this position he won't be pleased with me. After a pause she directed her all of her energy to her to her arms.

She felt a hand touched her shoulder and she jumped back with a squeak, pain shot through her body as she moved.

"Hey calm down it's me!" A very familiar masculine voice said in a suppressed whisper. The hand kept a firm grip on her shoulder. The ring on its finger confirmed who he was. It was adorned with a sparkling red ruby which had a solid square cut. The surface of the gem was engraved with a black phoenix.

She turned around, to face her brother. But he quickly turned her back around, keeping his firm grip on her shoulders. She didn't know what it was that he was doing but she didn't care.

"Lark, is that you?" She asked in a scared tone. He replied 'yeah'. "Good, I thought you were Zexin-Sama." She broke out of his grip and embraced him with a scared hug. He could hear her nearly silent sniffles as she hugged him.

"Lark, I-I thought that wasn't going to see you again, how did you get Zexin to let come and get me?" Her brother scratched his head with a goofy grin on his face.

"Well I didn't necessarily get his permission to come here, I kind of snuck out." He chuckled. "Hey who put this seal on you?"

Larxene scowled, "It was the Namikaze. " She said underneath her breath. Not hearing her, Lark leaned in further to her face.

"What was that?" He said with amused anxiety. A vein pooped on Larxene's forehead. She grumbled again.

She looked at her brother before saying, "I said it was the Namikaze!" in one large breath. Lark instantly keeled over in laughter. This went on for about twenty seconds before Larxene hit her brother on the head, promptly silencing him.

"So what the Namikaze beat me. He used his Kekkei Genkai though. It had these weird powers, on second I'm pile driving him into the ground and then the next he throwing rocks at me without using any jutsu." Lark's face became serious; he sat in front of his sister, face to face.

"I'm guessing that the Namikaze who put that seal on you as well?" Larxene's eyes widened as she looked up and down at her voluntarily movable body. She hadn't even noticed that the seal had been removed, 'he must have done it when he first got here', and how she didn't notice it before was simply astounding.

"Yeah he was the one, who put it on me, I don't know what he would have done to me if hadn't decided to leave." Larxene practically read her brother's mind; he was just about to ask her that same question.

"Larxene I don't have much time, I came here to give you this warning. Don't return to the organization, He pretty much thinks that you are dead. During the last member assembly Zexin left an order for no one to come looking for you." Larxene paid close attention to her brother's words. "He was going to leave you to die and if you came back he would kill you for your failure."

"So where am I supposed to go then?!"

"Anywhere you want, Zexin thinks that you're dead. But to make you feel better I have a place for you to go, just west of Mizu no Kuni, a small town in Nami no Kuni. Go there; ask for Tazuna the bridge builder, he was a friend of our mother, you know before she died."

The tall boy of eighteen years wore an impassive expression on his face.

"What about the Namikaze?" Larxene stood and walked over to the open window by Naruto's bed, exhausted and sore; she rested her upper body on the sill. "What are we going to do about him?"

"No it is what I'm going to do about him." Lark said, he stood behind her, resting his arm on her shoulder. She squirmed from the pressure on her tender shoulders and shuffled until he moved his arm from around her neck.

"Don't follow the Namikaze anymore; he's the organization's problem now and you need not be involved in this matter anymore. I'm giving you a chance to live a normal life so take it, Okay?"

There was a long pause before Larxene finally nodded and looked back at her brother. He spoke up first. "You have to leave now, I can get you to the border of Hi no Kuni but you'll have to fend for yourself from then on." He looked past her face, his gaze directed into the distance that was Konoha.

"Let's go." Larxene nodded. Lark wrapped his arm around his sister's waist and they both disappeared in a flurry of fire.

(Border)

A plume of fire erupted from the ground revealing Lark and Larxene standing at the border of fire country, a couple miles away from the main gate of Konoha. The same way Larxene had made her way in.

"Am I ever going to see you again?" Lark nodded.

"I'll come to visit you soon so don't worry." He placed his hand on her head and ruffled the blond hair that matched his own. He saw that a tear drop down Larxene's face and slid down, threatening to drip of her chin.

"See you soon." He said as he hugged his sister one last time before disappearing from in front of her. Slowly she began to walk down the long dusty road, leading to the village hidden in the mist. She knew that her brother told her to but she couldn't give up, to her this was all the Namikaze's doing and she wanted her revenge. The instant she recovered in Nami she would be back here to hunt Naruto down.

--

Naruto walked through the halls leading to the Hokage's office. Naruto saw the door leading to his grandfather. With a thrust of fury Naruto swung the door open, causing it to slam against the wall, bringing with it loud boom.

Those inside the office all turned around to see an enraged Naruto. He walked in slowly, eyes locked on the shock Sandaime Hokage. He was first to speak.

"Naruto-kun, what is the meaning of this?" Naruto didn't say a word he just continued to look at the old man. Only after a few seconds did Naruto notice the two other in the room with. Both of them stared at him with the look that the rest of the villagers gave him. A man and a woman, both of them old; looked to be around sixty plus. These two, along with the Hokage, were the leaders of the village council.

The man had gray hair, and glasses. He wore long white and black robes that draped down to his feet. His black sandals barely covered the unpleasant appendages he called feet. He wore a constant scowl on his face and looked as if he was mad at something. Apparently he was mad all the time, for the few times Naruto had actually seen this man he always looked like this. His name was Mitokada homura.

The woman directly parallel to him was dressed in pretty much the same attire. Except for the fact that her robes covered her feet, the wrinkles on her face matched those of her male co-counsel head. The look on her face, however, was different from hers. She didn't look mad or happy; her facial expression was completely impassive. Her name was Koharu; the slightly less important leader when put into comparison with the Hokage and Mitokada.

"Sarutobi, I do hope that you have a reasonable explanation for this boy's intrusion." Mitokada said with a gruff and aged voice. Both him and Koharu turned around and faced Naruto. Naruto kept his eyes on Sarutobi, who he could see in between them.

"Naruto answer my question, why are you here? I have business with the council right now; whatever you need will have to wait."

Naruto stood up straight. "I'll tell you why I'm here!" He spat while extending his finger directly at Sarutobi. "I'm here for answers, about--!"

"Uzumaki Naruto, do you have a reason to be here? If you don't I suggest that you leave. As of now you are interrupting council affairs and if you do not leave then you will forced to leave." He ignored the old man's warning and growled under his breath. He approached Sarutobi desk and slammed his hands on the polished wood, scattering the already messy pile of papers that decorated its surface.

"Ojiisan, why hell didn't you tell me?" Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. He brought his hands up to chin and leaned in closer to Naruto's own face. 'Why didn't I know this before' Naruto thought.

"Naruto-kun, what didn't I tell you about?"

"Uzumaki-san, please leave now!" Mitokada spat out. Naruto spun around and faced the old man.

"I won't leave, before I get answers, how about you tell me! You probably know of this too, both of you old geezers probably know this!" Both council leaders gasped at Naruto's insult. Their eyes were practically popping out of their heads. Koharu's impassive expression changed into one of anger.

"Excuse me, brat! Your insolence will not go on unheard. Trust me the council will have you jailed for your disrespect!" The old woman eyed Naruto with hate in her eyes. "Children like you should not act so belligerent, especially one with your 'situation'."

"My situation…?" Naruto yelled. Now she crossed the line. He knew exactly what she meant by 'situation'.

"Oh that situation?-…"

"Naruto don't" Sarutobi said, which caused both council heads to eye him with suspicion.

"Don't what Sarutobi?" Mitokada said. "Hear what he has to say."

Naruto's eyes were set ablaze. "Oh you mean that little situation, the one with nine-tails; am I right?" Mitokada and Koharu both took a step back. Sarutobi sighed in exasperation and slapped his forehead.

"How do you know of that demon?"

Naruto chuckled in a creepy way that seemed slightly crazed. He sat on the polished cherry wood desk. "Hmm, it's actually funny, I thought that I was that demon, you know that demon that you attacked years ago?"

"Naruto, I said don't say word, that's enough!" Sarutobi said, causing Naruto to turn his enraged gaze onto him. He looked at the blonde boy with a disarming smile in an attempt to calm him down. It worked, for Naruto's furrowed and angled eyebrows settled down into their straight and calm position.

"Good. I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We'll talk about this later Naruto-kun." He looked at his surrogate grandson with eyes fueled by compassion. The same disarming smile returned to his face when he saw Naruto nod. He was a very stubborn person, but when it came to Sarutobi Naruto would always listen.

"Fine!" Naruto said with a scowl. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his black jacket and walked out but not before giving the council heads an icy glare. Once he was out of hearing distance the doors were closed and both of the old 'geezers' turned on Sarutobi.

"Hokage I think that we need to have a talk, with all of us, I mean me, Koharu and the rest of the council." With that both of them walked out…in sync, like freaking twins. It was weird.

Sarutobi rubbed his temples. "I'm getting way too old for this crap." He said. He pressed the button activating the intercom system. "Kaori-chan?"

There was a long pause, there seemed to be a lot of those lately. He heard a female reply back to him.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Get me Hatake Kakashi… and some aspirin, I've got a monster headache." Another long pause.

"Right away Hokage-sama."

"Thank you." He let go of the button. "Way too old indeed."

--

A knock on the door interrupted the silence of the office.

"Come in." Sarutobi said. Whoever was at the door opened it slowly, making an annoying screech in the process. When he saw who it was he sat up from his slouched position.

"Ah Hatake-san, you caught me by surprise. I expected you to just poof in here like you always do."

"I figured that I should get some exercise every once and a while." The cyclopean Jounin said with a one-eyed smile. Sarutobi rested his head on his hands, a signal that matters were now serious. Kakashi responded horribly to the signal, he just kept smiling. He figured it out though.

"Well since you came so quickly I am guessing that you know why you're here."Kakashi stood up straight and nodded.

"You have a mission for me?" Sarutobi closed his eyes before shaking his head.

"No, I have a mission for you and your team. I'm called you here to introduce you to your client." He pressed the intercom button again. "Kaori-chan, send him upstairs now."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

After about one minute a gruff looking man walked through the door. His gaze was lazy, his clothes wrinkled and dirty. He was holding a bottle in his hand; he held it with a loose grip and it wobbled in between his dry fingers.

"Hatake-san, this is Tazuna. A master bridge builder for a small port town in Nami no Kuni. It's just west of Kirigakure no Sato. He came here yesterday seeking protection from bandits on his journey back to Nami no Kuni. He was supposed to finish the bridge connecting Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni. It's a contribution that both of our economies could benefit from."

Kakashi looked at the Tazuna, and sized him up. "So you want me and my team to be your bodyguards?" His only response was a quick nod. Kakashi then turned back to Sarutobi.

"Then if that is true why does my team need to go, why not just me?" Kakashi said

"Because, Hatake-san this is only a C-ranked mission, perfect for your team. And with all due respect, they need the experience. Now go Tazuna here has informed me that he must leave tomorrow morning. You need not bring your team here, just inform them of the mission and leave in the morning."

"Yes Hokage-sama." Kakashi said with a bow, he then disappeared in a plume of smoke.

"I'll never get used to you ninja's doing that." Tazuna said, as he walked out the door.

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Yeah! Finally done. I 'm sorry that I took such a long time to get this one out but my school make everyone come back for five week during the summer break. So I didn't get a lot of time to sit down and actually write.

Tazuna has officially been introduced, but he's going to leave in a chapter or two, Larxene is out of the Saiki, and Naruto nd co. will finally be heading toward the Land of waves. I plan to milk this arc a bit, I might make Naruto's mission take longer to complete than it did in the show. Kyuubi's true form, uh wow. I think I actually did ok this time. When I was thinking for explanation as to why Kyuubi got sealed into Naruto I was doing some homework and I had just looked evolution up in the dictionary. I made that whole thing up on the spot, inspiration comes from weird places huh? I never thought that all those times my mom told me to read the dictionary would actually pay off. Go figure.

I have a new poll.

Should I keep Zabuza alive or should I kill him of in Wave country. You decide.

Don't forget.

Read and review

Next chapter: Destination: Nami no Kuni

Grim is steppin out.


	6. Destination: Nami no Kuni

Yeaaah boiiiii!

This is Grimstep5 giving chapter six of my story, Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai. A little reminder people, just because I introduced a new poll that doesn't mean that my old poll has been canceled out. I'm going for a long time harem here, this means that my final decision will take a long time to come out, so keep writing in people! On another note, I finally got to say 'on another note. I see people write it all the time so I thought, "hmm let me give it a try." But on another serious note that pertains to the story, now that Naruto is about to leave Konoha it brings about the end of the revelation arc and marks the birth of the wave arc. This particular arc won't be as long as the previous one, say about two or three chapters maximum. Like I said I plan to milk his stay in wave country so I might even reveal a new Saiki member. And remember every Saiki member is based off of an Organization XIII member. And I sort feel like I'm not concentrating Naruto's kekkei genkai enough so I have a little surprise in this chapter.

And I forgot to say at the end of the chapter I will put up the current standings for the Harem and if I get enough reviews, the standings on whether or not Zabuza should be killed or be spared.

P.S. This is like my longest chapter ever.

On with the story

Enjoy Mutha F#

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

She departs, He departs, and they appear

Naruto wore a sour expression on his face as he walked down the street leading toward the main gate of Konoha. He figured that he would have at least five minutes before he reached his destination; it was more than enough time to have a conversation with Kyuubi. He opened up his mental link with and spoke.

'Kyuubi, are you there?' There was a long pause before he got a response. A familiar vibration in the back of his mind let him know that Kyuubi was there. He was obviously in his fox form.

"Of course I'm here kit, I'll always be here. Well at least until you die that is…" Kyuubi's voice came off as demonic, the voice that Naruto was still used to. The voice of what he thought was his inner demon. He dived deeper into his mind, putting his body on auto-pilot.

'You're in your fox form; don't you think it's better to stay as a human?' Naruto said as he mentally ran through his checklist of gear he was supposed to bring with him on his mission to wave.

"Nah, it doesn't matter what I look like if no one can see me, and besides taking a nap as a giant nine-tailed fox actually feels quite refreshing." Kyuubi said.

'Whatever-'Naruto's mental expression suddenly became serious. '- hey Kyuubi let me ask you something.'

"Ask away."

'Do you ojiisan sent us on this mission as a way to avoid talking with us.' He felt Kyuubi scratch his chin with one of his tails.

"Maybe, but that's not important, what is important is that girl you were supposed to interrogate." Naruto let out a deep sigh in exasperation. He consciously jammed his hands in his pockets, a habit he could never really stop doing. He figured he picked it up from watching Kakashi do it so many times. Even so, he veered his mind back on the main topic and continued to speak.

'Yeah, that Larxene girl; I don't know how she got out of that seal, I constructed it myself.' Naruto patted himself on the back for his new found knowledge of seals; his mind was sharper than ever but it seemed that hours of staying up and studying the different types and affects of scrolls didn't pay off, for he couldn't keep Larxene immobilized. 'You know; the funny thing is I wonder how she got out without being detected by any Ninja patrolling around Konoha.'

Naruto knew that during all times of the day, ninja ranging from mid-Chuunin to Anbu would circle the entire perimeter of Konoha. What he couldn't figure out was how is that she wasn't spotted and as badly damaged as she was, it should have been impossible to even make it out of his front door.

'She must be more skilled than I gave her credit for, maybe that battle we had was just to gather information on me.'

"Maybe, but we don't know for sure so keep your eyes peeled for any signs of Saiki activity."

"I'll be sure to do that." Naruto said as he cut off his mental link and approached the main gate and his teammates. He walked up to his team, everyone was present. He saw Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and a worn out old man. He walked up to the man, and eyed him, inspecting the old man for any reason to not go on this mission.

"What's your problem runt?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, you must be Tazuna." Naruto said in a slightly baritone voice. He had only noticed it a couple of days ago but his voice was starting to get deeper, puberty was working to his benefit.

"Yeah I am and who the hell are you." The man replied in a gruff tone. Naruto scoffed and walked past him, he reeked of alcohol. There must have been a lot of problems in this guy's life, he even smelled like a drunk.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto." He continued to walk past Sasuke and Sakura and proceeded onto Kakashi. "Sensei-"He said. "-give me the full details on this mission so that we can get going."

"Sure." Kakashi said as he patted Naruto on the shoulder, earning him an annoyed glance from the blond nin. "Let me just announce this first." He signaled for everyone to gather around him, all excluding Tazuna.

"Now let me say this, and I'll only say this once. This is your first mission outside of the village, I hope that you prepared correctly. There should be no room in your pack for unnecessary items, such as any personal items used for recreation, any miscellaneous items; say tools used for makeup are also unacceptable. Also, there is no need for over packing you shouldn't need that many pairs of clothing. If you fit any of these wrong conditions I suggest that you go back home and re-pack. You have ten minutes."

Kakashi locked his eye on Sakura. Only then did she inch away and dash off in the direction of her house. "She's so predictable. " He said, shaking his head in a disappointed manner. With that everyone went off to their respective spaces. Sasuke leaned against the gate wall, Tazuna stood where he was, and Kakashi walked over to a small tree, leaned on it and motioned for Naruto to follow him.

Both of them stood under the tree's shade, not saying a word, taking a few moments to savor its branches that shielded them from the blistering heat. Kakashi spoke.

"I know you didn't want to talk about mission specs with me Naruto-kun, so what's the deal?" He spoke in a low, inaudible voice; a voice so low that it was almost silent; if you weren't under that tree you wouldn't hear a word.

"You found me out. What I really wanted to do was ask you something." Naruto said in a voice equal to Kakashi's in decibel level.

"Go ahead."

"Yesterday, when Ojiisan told about this mission did he say anything else to you?" Kakashi looked up into the sky. Naruto leaned even more onto the tree and folded his arms.

Kakashihesitated for a bit then shook his head. "No, He didn't say anything to me… why?"

"No reason I just wanted to know." Naruto said as he walked away toward the main gate. He traded glances with Sasuke before leaning on the opposite side of the wall, parallel to Sasuke. The sun's rays shined on his face, causing him to bring his arm up to shield himself. He could've stayed under the tree but at that particular moment he didn't feel like being next to Kakashi; he couldn't help but think that the silver-haired Jounin had something to hide.

So he stood by himself and waited for Sakura to return

--

(Hours later)

Team seven and Tazuna were about six miles from where they were supposed to catch a boat and cross into Nami. It was near dusk and a luminous twilight peeped out from over the Horizon in the distance. It was nearly ten o clock when Kakashi decided to make camp. He inspected the area, a wide open space, in the middle of the forest, trees lining its border.

He turned to look at Tazuna and his team. The old man, looked worn out, tired. His face was haggard and his eyed lids were heavy. It was obvious that the bridge builder didn't have the stamina of a ninja. His team on the other hand…wasn't doing all that well either, all except for Naruto. He showed no signs of fatigue.

The one-eyed Jounin heavily sweat dropped from the realization of having two thirds of a team that didn't have the stamina of a ninja.

"OK-"He said as he turned to his team."-I think we should break for camp soon, we've been walking all day and I know you guys are all tired so set up and get some rest." He inspected their resting spot; it was perfect spot to break camp in. A wide open space like this would make it hard for any potential threats to sneak up on them.

He watched as his team set up their sleeping bags and prepared a fire. Naruto hauled some large rocks over by the flames and set them up one by one in a circle. With their sleeping bags ready and food out, they all sat around the fire. Tazuna helped himself to several cans of beef stew. It was a silent dinner and a fast one too.

Soon after their silent dinner Tazuna and Sakura were both asleep in their respective sleeping bags, worn out from walking since morning.

Naruto sat on a fairly large rock, watching Tazuna snore with contempt in his eyes. He knew that the bridge builder was a liar, something that he would have to talk with Kakashi about after the Uchiha went to sleep.

The sky was completely black and the only thing allowing them to see was the fire that lit up their little campsite. Sasuke who had taken to sitting on a tree branch watched the night sky while switching his attention from the sky to Naruto and Kakashi. He figured that they had to talk to one another at one point and he would be awake to hear that conversation. He knew it was a weak attempt at trying to learn more about Kakashi and Naruto.

"Yo, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke's turned in Kakashi's direction. He saw both Kakashi and Naruto looking at him. It made him feel a little uneasy but he brushed it of his conscious. "You should get some sleep; we're waking up early tomorrow in order to get into wave earlier."

"Nah, I'm not that sleepy." He said as he jumped down from the branch. He would've landed square on his feet if it weren't for the intense stares his sensei and teammate were giving him, one of them sent a large wave of killing intent with his stare. He couldn't tell who it was though for the KI had been too much.

"On second thought I think I'm going to head off and hit the hay." he said with a nervous chuckle. He went to his already unrolled sleeping bag and crawled in, grumbling about how something wasn't fair. He didn't want admit it but he was very tired. 'Dobe' was the last word he said before sleep took over and forced his eyes shut, throwing him into deep slumber.

Both Kakashi and Naruto looked waited in silence until the heard a light snore come from Sasuke's direction.

"Good; now that princess Uchiha is asleep we need to talk about some things."

"Like what?" Kakashi replied.

"Like how Tazuna-san isn't telling us something about this mission. "

"Ah, you've noticed it too. I thought I was the only one, I'm surprised Naruto-kun."

"Thanks, but getting back on topic, he said that he was desperate need of protection and I find it suspicious that we haven't come across a single threat. Not even a bandit."

"Yeah I know. I'll address him about it later when the time is right." Naruto shrugged and took to a tree branch.

"Whatever sensei, it doesn't really matter to me; I just hope that we come across somebody powerful and soon." Kakashi chuckled at the boy's eagerness to fight.

"Just get some sleep Naruto-kun." Kakashi said, but this time Naruto didn't answer back.

(The next morning)

Naruto woke up with a yawn. He saw that their campsite had not been attacked and everything and everyone was ok. He looked down from his perch on the tree branch to see the rest his team and Tazuna already packing up and getting ready to depart.

"Yo Naruto-kun get down from there, we're about to leave." Kakashi called and signaled for him to come over with a wave of his hand. Naruto reluctantly slid out and down from the tree, and walked over to the rest of his team.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Well I figured that since you didn't really haveto pack anything up I'd give you an extra twenty minutes to sleep before we left." Naruto just nodded, picked up his pack next to the remains of the previous night's fire and slipped it on.

"Are we all ready to go?" All Kakashi got were a series of yawns, moans and stretches for an answer. That probably meant yes.

"Ready." Tazuna said in a half drunken haze.

"Ready." Sasuke replied.

"I'm ready as long as Sasuke-kun's ready." That earned Sakura an annoyed grumble from her crush.

"Good to go."Naruto said.

"Let's get moving." Kakashi said, looking at the sky.

Team seven and Tazuna headed for the main road. They hadn't even walked two miles when they walked by two puddles in the middle of the road. The rest of the team labeled it off as nothing, but Kakashi and Naruto knew exactly what those puddles were.

'A puddle in the middle of the summer and it hadn't rained in weeks. These guys are way out of their league.' Kakashi thought to himself. He was sure Naruto was thinking the same thing.

He looked up at Naruto who was in the front the line, leading the pack and then to Tazuna who was almost directly behind him. His vision turned back to Naruto who now had his hand placed behind, moving his fingers in a fork like way. Kakashi understood Naruto's subtle movements. They were special hand signs for identifying the number of enemies in the area without being heard. The one Naruto was using translated as: two.

"SC, how does he know about silent communication? Naruto-kun you continue to astound me every time I see you." Kakashi responded with his own round of SC.

"Two enemies inside of the puddle."

"I'm aware."

"Should we act now?"

"No wait and see what they do before we act."

"Understood." Naruto continued to walk as if his five second conversation with Kakashi had never happened.

Meanwhile two sets of eyes peeped at team seven threw veils of false water. They waited for them to gain a little distance before making their move. Once the distance was set between them two nin slowly dragged themselves out of the puddles. They wore black cloaks and matching gas mask. What were even more noticeable though were the two clawed gauntlets they garnered on the opposite arm. They were linked together b interlocking chains. Their hita-ate's had the symbol for the hidden mist village. The only thing different was that they both had a slash going through the symbol.

Two nuke nin from Kirigakure no Sato, the Oni brothers. One sat on the other's arm as a parrot would a pirate. In deft movement the one on the other's arm was flung into the air by his brother, heading straight for Kakashi with little to no sound at all. Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna barely had any time to react before they saw a figure cloaked in black fly towards them and rip the sensei to bloody shreds with deadly spiked chains. Sakura screamed at the sight of the bloody chunks of flesh that was now Kakashi. Sasuke almost gagged but did a solid job at maintaining his cool guy visage. Tazuna would have screamed too if not for the empty beer bottle in his hand. He probably didn't know what was going on.

All but Naruto were in panic. He stood there and watched the two brothers who had just ripped Kakashi apart. They stood laughing in the middle of the road.

"One down, four to go." One of them said and then locked eyes with Naruto.

"You!" one of them said as they both lock onto Naruto. With a burst of speed the both of them ran at Naruto, gauntlets out. They spread out so that the same chain that "killed" Kakashi would soon taste Naruto's blood.

Naruto had at least five seconds to react; he took two of those seconds to look over at his teammates. Sakura who had just finished screaming stood petrified with fear, Tazuna the same. But he could see that Sasuke was no longer next to the two of them.

"Oh so that's his plan, not bad Uchiha." Naruto said as he pointed up in the sky then quickly flipped over the chain the chain that could've killed him. Both men stop men stopped to see what Naruto was pointing at, only to see a kunai thrown by Sasuke whiz past them and pin their interlock chain onto a tree.

"What the fuck is this kid; do you really think that this would stop us?" With a loud hissing sound their chains detached allowing them to freely go anywhere they pleased.

"Now you mine-… what the!" said nuke nin was stopped dead in his sentence when Sasuke appeared out of nowhere, squatting on both their gauntlets. He reared back and landed a solid drop kick to both of the nuke nin's faces sending them both flying toward the ground.

"We're gonna kill you kid!" They both said in unison. Sasuke replied with a typical cool guy smirk.

'Naruto.' He thought as he slid into his Taijutsu stance. It was not only until the two cloaked men were about twenty yards away did they hear a voice from the ground.

"Daton: Doryuudan!" (Earth style: earth dragon projectile)

"What the hell is that?" Sasuke said as he took a step back. A swirl of mud spawned itself in front of him, taking the form of a dragon's head. It opened its mouth and spit out tons of harden mud shots towards the two nuke nin. They reacted by swiftly dodging, ducking and slashing at the hardened lumps of earth. Sasuke looked to his far right to see Naruto standing while maintaining a ram seal. The blonde boy's body tensed even more as he applied more chakra to his jutsu.

"H-how does he know such a high level jutsu?" thought Sasuke as he looked on in disbelief at his comrade's astounding chakra capacity.

Naruto made a loud grunt as he increased the power on his earth jutsu. The dragon's eyes flashed an iridescent yellow right before it increased its rate of fire and in turn spewing out double the amount of mud than it started with.

"Ah what the-…" said one of the gauntlet wielding nuke nin's before him and his partner were thoroughly buried inside of a pile of solid earth.

"Whoa." Was all that Tazuna said. Sakura seconded his notion by leaving her mouth open to droop down in awe. Suddenly she felt something, a sense of admiration for Naruto sort of how she admired Sasuke. The sight of him taking down two dangerous ninja was amazing.

"You did it!" Sakura suddenly yelled out to Naruto. He looked back at her with a freaked out expression. Her wide smile died out, perhaps stating the obvious didn't make her seem all that bright.

But she quickly forgot about her amazement at Naruto and went to her crush's aid.

"Are you hurt Sasuke-kun?" She said as she ran up to him and cradled his arm, holding on to it like it was her heart. He quickly shoved her away with a grunt.

"What are we going to do know that Kakashi's gone?" He said looking toward Naruto who replied.

"I don't why don't you ask him yourself."

"What?" Tazuna, Sasuke and Sakura said in unison. Naruto jerked his thumb at a cluster of trees and in a few seconds, to their surprise Kakashi casually walked out, porn in hand. Everyone but Naruto face faulted at his sudden entrance.

"Yo, what say we get those two out of that mud pile and figure out what's really going on."

--

The two Oni brothers sat unconscious in a pile of mud that stopped at their heads. Kakashi put some smelling salts near their noses. They wrenched back and yelled out in disgust.

"Gouza and Meizu the two Oni brothers, care to explain what you're doing here." Both brothers looked up to see who was speaking. They found themselves staring at the eye of the copy cat ninja, Hatake Kakashi.

"How the hell are you still alive I thought we killed you?" Said Gouza, he was the one on the right.

Kakashi chuckled in a way that was slightly dark. Gouza struggled to release himself from the mud but stopped when he realized that his actions were null in void.

"I'll ask again, what were you doing here?"

"We're not telling you a damn thing!" This time Meizu answered. He was the one on the left. The gas mask he wore gave his voice an influence of static and the nuke ninja's word came out harsh and disrupted.

Naruto watched Kakashi's interrogation from atop a tree branch. A sigh of boredom escaped his lips as he brought attention from his sensei to the sky. He closed his eyes but he could still hear the faint sound of the two missing ninja's voices.

Sasuke sat a branch on the opposite side of the tree. Seeing as how the tree was fairly small, Naruto and Sasuke weren't really that far away from each other, just close enough to hear each other's words.

"Hey, Dobe."

"What do you want Teme." Naruto said opening one eye. "I was trying to sleep." He heard Sasuke suppress a growl. Then there was a pause.

"That jutsu that you did to catch the Oni brothers, where did you learn that technique?" Sasuke said while arrogantly cocking his head to the side.

"Well wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yeah I would." Naruto thought for a moment, he didn't have anything to do while Kakashi got the information out of those two Oni brothers and needed something to do to pass the time away. Usually talking with Sasuke wasn't something he would normally do out of interest but every now and then it was fun to see a stuck up Uchiha not get what he wanted.

"Ok then I'll tell you. I learned it from a scroll." He said with a grin.

"Teach it to me."

"…No…" Naruto chuckled from his prone position on the branch as when he heard Sasuke suppress another growl. "I'll tell you what, I won't teach it to you but I will tell you where to get the scroll form."

"Tell me already you dobe!"

Pause.

"…The Konoha Jutsu Archives." Naruto said blatantly. There was no response from Sasuke much to the delight of Naruto. "I thought so he said."

Sakura sat next to Tazuna simply admiring the spectacle with raven hair. A sigh comparable to Naruto's passed through with her breath.

'Sasuke looks so cool right now; even Naruto looks kind of nice too. What could they be talking about on that tree; I want to be over there, and how come I always get stuck next to this creepy old drunk?'She thought to herself while eying Tazuna.

There was a sudden yell from both Oni brothers over by Kakashi. All heads turned in the direction their sudden outbreak. Sakura nearly jumped into Tazuna's arms from the noise. They all came to see the Oni brother's passed out and buried to their heads next to a tree, Kakashi adjusted the part of his headband that covered his left eye.

"Are quite done sensei?" Naruto asked, walking up to the one eyed jounin. He eyed the heavy gauntlets the Oni brothers still wielded on their opposite arms. He eyed them with a keen eye.

"This could come in handy." He said as he unlatched and slipped both gauntlets of the brothers' limp arms. He took a scroll out of his pack and laid the two gauntlets on the open paper and with a few quick hands seals the two metal accessories disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.

"Uhhh… now that Naruto's finished shall we be on our way?" Kakashi said with a patented eye smile.

--

The sound of bug and little animals filled the part of that part of the forest. Greenery… was everywhere. The air was thick and humid, wet, hot and hard to breathe in.

Larxene walked on a nature made road with stiff limbs. Her muscles ached and her lungs burned, they burned more and more with every agonizing output of carbon dioxide that was released from her lungs.

"Damn!" Was all she said as she said, swatting away small branches and leaves from her face. "Damn I'm so hungry." Her stomach attested to that fact with a loud growl.

She punched it to get to quiet down. After a few minute of walking she came upon a large clearing in the middle of the forest. The smell of food fluttered in the air it danced in front of her nose tantalizing her to come closer. Without hesitation she followed and came across a series of tents. Next to those tents were racks of equipment, swords, daggers, and small shields were lined up along the racks.

"What is this, tents and weapons? These guys might be bandits." Larxene inspected through the camouflage of trees, waiting to see if anyone would come out. She heard voices coming from the tents so she knew that there were people in there.

Her stomach gave another loud growl. She looked down with a bright blush on her face, what she was blushing from is a mystery. "Ah, screw this!" She walked past the tree into the clearing but as she got closer to the tent another smell entered her nose. It was ripe, distinct, dirty. It danced around the perimeter of the tents.

It wasn't a good sign at all, if this certain smell wafted around a gang of bandits' campsite then there must have been women around. For the site smelled of sex. A smell that Larxene never thought she would get used to. Whenever her brother and his lover, who was part of the Saiki herself, would get together she would always smell it. She definitely recognized it, she didn't like it but she recognized it.

She took a step back away from the tents, trying to get away from the smell when she bumped into something hard.

"Well what do we have here?" Said the gruff voice of a man from behind her and by the feeling on her back that man was built like a brick house! (it not what you think) Turning around slowly she saw a tall man, around six foot seven towering over her. He wore no shirt all that he hand on was a pair of blue pants on.

"Hey little girl are ya lost, come with me in my tent I've got a map or maybe you can stay with us and you we'll uhhh help get where you're going." She took a step back, fully aware of what would happen if she even to a step in that tent.

She cocked her head. "No."

"What, come on me and my friends can help you." He signaled toward the other tents and out came four other bandits, all sweaty and and smiling.

"Hey lookie here guys we got ourselves a fresh one." The supposed leader yell at the other guys. The rest of his 'gang' all declined.

"No way I'm good with this one... for now." One of them said, earning him a laugh from the others. They all agreed with him as they went back into their own respective tents.

"See my friends are all friendly, you've got nothing to fear."

"I said no." Larxene said in reply.

"But you're clothes are all ripped up, I can get you a new pair, what do you say little lady?" He ask, putting up his most disarming smile. She played along and put up her most innocent lost girl face ever.

"R-really, you'll help me... ? Um can I know your name?"

"Sure." He said with a perverted blush on his face. "I'm Ganryu shisen, so how about we go in my tent so I can get you some new clothes."

"W-well Ganryu-san... You can go to hell!" She delivered a solid punch to his face, causing him to stumble backward into the many racks of weapons. The clatter of steel on steel attracted the attention of Ganryu's comrades.

She stepped closer to the prone bandit leader.

"You know its people like younwho give men a bad name. What type of sick twisted man are you, did you think I was stupid or something. As if I'd just go into your tent because you asked. She picked him up by the neck in a sheer display of strength.

"What the hell...are you?" He spat out through a partially crushed wind pipe. The rest of the bandits just stood there paralyzed with shock, a girl lifting up their leader with nothing but an arm! A few words could be heard through his countless gags and gasps for air.

"W.. are you doin... don't just stand...er do...so..thing!" They got the message and rushed back into the tents to get their weapons. They all came out with various daggers and swords.

"Let him go you little bitch!" That struck a nerve... bitch, she hated to be called a bitch. These men would have to pay. Her gaze shifted past the man in her arm and locked on to the one who called her that certain word.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me I said bi-...!" Before he could finish his sentence a senbon needle was plunged deep into throat, a tiny deformity on the back of his neck marked where the needle could have pierced through. Her hand stuck out in a post- throw position. He fell to the ground gurgling from the blood pouring down his throat, dead.

"Anyone else?" Fear gripped their ugly faces, she had just begun to notice her arm start to strain from holding up her burden. She eyed the Ganryu who was still in her clutches.

"Man, you're bothering me... go away!" She spun and with a heavy grunt threw him head first into a tree, causing him to instantly die from the impact. The blood from his head traveled in a quick little stream all the way to the back of her shoes. She took a step closer, three men took two steps back.

She smiled. It was time for the savage nymph to come out and play a little bit.

--

"That's the reason why?"

"Yes, that's the truth." Tazuna said shamefully. It had been at least an hour since they captured the Oni brothers, who were probably still in that hardened pile of mud.

Apparently Tazuna had lied about the gravity of his situation. He was supposed to get to Nami no kuni but he said he needed protection from bandits, something like that was a standard and basic C-ranked mission, it wasn't anything that was too important. But in reality Tazuna withheld information from them, he said nothing about the bounty he had on his head, that made him a prime target for shinobi and nuke-nin. Protection from these kinds of threats would always came out as a b-ranked mission.

"So, because you didn't have the money you didn't tell us the full story because you knew that the price would come to be too much for you."

"So, I guess you guys should turn back then, seeing as how this mission was a false." The now sober man said.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, we've already accepted this mission and as Konoha nin we will finish what we started. But it's good that you told us this information Tazuna-san."

"Thank you Hatake-san." Tazuna said. the one eyed jounin waved a finger in the air.

"No, its Kakashi."

"Ah, then thank you Kakashi."

Team seven and Tazuna were still on the same path they were taking before they were attacked by the Oni. They copied the same formation they used before. Naruto was in front, then Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi was behind Tazuna this time though.

The air was crisp and became arid from the summer heat. Naruto took in a few nosefuls of it and gagged. He hated fresh air.

'I wonder what they're talking about.' He pumped a little chakra into his ears, and almost instantly everything got louder. He centered his attention on Tazuna and Kakashi's conversation. At first he hear small transmissions of idle chit-chat between the men but then some thing caught his attention. What he heard was this: "Zabuza Momochi, he's the leader of of those two assassins earlier."

"How do you know that Kakashi?" Tazuana asked.

"I'm a former Anbu there isn't a lot that I don't know Tazuna-san."

"Really Anbu, now I feel really safe."

'Get on with it!' Naruto thought to himself and immediately as if on cue, Kakashi continued.

"Anyway like I said, Zabuza Momochi an ex-ninja of Kiri. He defected about five years ago and ever since his name has been spreading like wildfire. I can't imagine what he would want to do with you. Is there anything crime that you've committed?"

"No, but it might be for the bounty on my head."

"Tell me more." Naruto decided to cut of the chakra flow from there, he would find this out later. They continued to walk in silence, except for the constant pleas from Sakura trying to get Sasuke to notice her. It was about noon and they didn't have that much of a distance to walk before they could be done with this mission.

He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.

"So bored, what to do what to do?" He stopped his thinking when something caught his eye. Something glimering headed toward them.

"Everyone get down!" Kakashi ordered. Naruto immediately followed orders and ducked and it was not a second too late, as soon as he moved a giant spinning Zanbantou came sailing over his head barely missing his head and splitting a few hairs. Naruto could feel the wind that came with the deadly metal.

The sword lodge itself into a tree, and standing on its long hilt was a pale man. He stood with his back toward them, and wore his slashed Kiri headband to the side. His attire consisted on a pair of black and white camo arm warmers, his leg warmers matched. His torso was bare except for the crossed strap that served as a holster for his sword.

His stark laugh weaved its way towards them. Naruto turned to see Tazuna and his teammates stricken with fear. Kakashi's expression however, was suppressed. He showed no sign of fear or even anger; he just looked calm and collected.

He spoke out. "Momochi Zabuza, ex-nin of Kirigakure no Sato; after your failed assassination attempt on the Mizukage you fled with your two lackeys the Oni brothers. I figured that you would show up here sooner or later, considering how they were defeated so soundly."

He turned and sat on the hilt of his sword, carefully eying team seven.

"Is that so; well I didn't expect to see you here Kakashi, the Copy Ninja! It doesn't matter though I came here for one thing and for one thing only and that is for the old bridge builder!"

"Copy ninja, what's he talking about?" Sakura asked with fear in her voice.

"You'll find out later. He said. "Now get behind me!" They did as they were told, including Naruto and waited for Zabuza to attack.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the resident animals and the sound of thinking; dead silence. The air gained a sudden chill to it; soon Naruto was able to see his own breath.

'What is this?' He thought to himself. Zabuza stood up, tall and lanky, swaying a little bit from side to side; he placed his hand on the hilt of his massive weapon and disappeared.

"This will all be over quickly Tazuna." Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura circled Tazuna in response to Zabuza's comment. His voice came seemingly form everywhere at once. It was as if he projected himself into the deep mist. The sun's rays were blotted out by the sun; a few strands of its light pierced through the dense fog.

His voice came again, but it rushed past their faces as if it came with the wind. "Why so silent Kakashi, are you thinking?"

'What is this jutsu, Zabuza's planning something big. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura you'd better be on your guard.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"He's not the one doing this Kakashi, there's someone else here." Naruto's voice came from afar and was seemingly gaining distance. "I'll try to find whoever it is that's doing this." Kakashi nodded in Naruto's direction, even though he couldn't see him he knew where he was going. He heard the swift sound of Naruto jumping off into the distance in search of Zabuza's associate.

'Be safe Naruto-kun, now to the task at hand.' Kakashi had to redirect his thoughts and focus on the battle at hand. He felt Zabuza's presence right in front of him; he whipped a kunai just in time to block the huge blade of the nuke-nin's blade.

Zabuza became visible in front of him. The clang of metal sounded off in the distance.

"Sakura, Sasuke!" Kakashi said, not taking his eyes off of Zabuza, "I'll buy you some time, in the meantime head towards our destination and make sure Tazuna is alive!"

He heard a a muffled voice that sounded like Sasuke's.

"How, we can't even see out here!" Kakashi didn't respond.

"Kakashi, you shouldn't take your mind of the battle, it could prove to be-"Zabuza's presence disappeared and reappeared behind Kakashi. "…Fatal!" Zabuza said. Pain shot through Kakashi's side, the pain cut through his ribs and splattered his blood along the dusty, mist shrouded road. He was sent flying and crashed onto the ground.

--

Naruto stood alone in the weird mist that somehow covered the huge are he was in. It was illogical to in his mind, he had run a least a mile away from Kakashi and the others. There was a faint chakra signature that caught his attention and upon following it, it led him here to this spot. The weird thing was that the jutsu that was being used to cloak Zabuza's movements had such a far range, it couldn't have spanned out this far. It was…illogical.

He barely followed the faint signature wondering about the blankness.

"This is strange, this isn't a normal jutsu. There aren't any cloaking techniques from Kiri this big, so that must mean that whoever is doing this isn't resident to Kirigakure no Sato."

He cleared his mind and sent his chakra out in pulse like waves. It was a way of finding foes that were invisible to his eye. He called it chakra sonar. By sending his chakra out in a pulse he could feel for any other chakra signatures in the area, if there was another chakra signature than his own, his chakra would spike and when it came in contact with another person's chakra he could in turn track down the chakra irregularity in order to find who he was looking for…on with the story.

Naruto sent out a series of chakra waves, in a few seconds he felt something but it was faint. Whoever this person was obviously was an expert a chakra control.

"Whoever this guy is, he must be good at hiding his chakra signature." His head popped to the left when he felt a chakra spike a couple meters from him. "But not good enough!" He took out three kunai and whipped them into a nearby bush. He smiled when he heard a man yell.

"There's no use hiding, I know you're there."

The man responded. "Oh… oh yeah, well-." A gust of wind rushed past Naruto's face. "-how about this!" The voice of a man came directly behind him, and to avoid danger he jumped forward and out of the way. He stumbled up and turned to see a man.

He had long brown hair, a fair build and brown eyes. A disarming smile was plastered on his face as he stood there waving. He wore an out that Naruto knew all too well; a long black trench coat that was zipped down and left open, revealing a bare chest. It was a fairly muscular one at that. His smile baring his white teeth.

Naruto's eyes went wide with something them resembled fear but if he was correct it was more like anxiety.

"Saiki." Naruto said under his breath.

"That's right, Namikaze." said the brown haired organization member. How he heard Naruto would remain a mystery. "You know what I'm here for so just come quietly."

Naruto smirked. "I could've sworn Larxene said the same thing and she's dead now." Naruto didn't want to give any information about her just yet; he would find her and interrogate her if it killed him. The man's eyes also went wide.

"You, you were the one who killed Larxene?" He bent over laughing and held his stomach, serving only to irritate Naruto. Naruto yelled and dashed toward the man, giving him a solid punch to the face. The force of the blow sent him flying into a tree, which he got from and dusted himself off.

"Nice punch." He said holding his chin. "I guess that means that you won't be coming without a fight then. Fine, then before I defeat you I'll tell you my name. It's Marlucia, remember it." With a flash of speed disappeared right before Naruto's eyes.

"Alright fine-"Naruto said with the same confident smile on his face. "-then you remember this, my name is Namikaze Naruto!" Naruto said before he disappeared as well.

--

Kakashi panted heavily all he could do was block and dodge Zabuza's massive swings. He ducked hard and just fast enough to avoid getting his head cleaved off. Trading blows was one thing but trading blows in that was near to impossible. He heard Zabuza's voice echo in the distance.

"What's wrong Kakashi why don't you use that eye of yours?" Kakashi ducked another swipe from Zabuza's blade.

'Damn, I can't do anything in this mist and all the jutsu that I have used to disperse haven't done me any good. I didn't want to use this but I guess there's no other choice." He placed his hand on his hita-ate, pulling it off of his left eye.

"I didn't want to use this Zabuza but you forced me to." He opened his eye revealing red and black pupil with three black tomoes surrounding it; the sharingan.

"Ah it seems that you're finally serious!" Zabuza came in from the left but Kakashi stopped him blocking the sword with the blunt edge of his kunai. He then quickly grabbed onto Zabuza's arm.

"Now the real battle begins!"With his free hand began to make seals with one hand.

"Doton: Doryuu Taiga!"(Earth Flow River) Kakashi stomped his foot on the ground, and in an instant the ground underneath Zabuza turned into mud and exploded into a flowing river of mud, Blasting Zabuza back into the deep mist. Kakashi immediately followed up with another round of hand seals.

"Doton Kekkai: Dorou Doumu!" (Earth Barrier: Earth Dome Prison) Kakashi slammed his hands on the ground, pumping gallons of chakra into the muddy stream; it solidified and swirled around Zabuza making a solid dome of stone.

"I'm still not done!" This time without the use of hand seals and his hand still in the ground Kakashi took in a deep breath.

"Endan! (Fireball) He exhaled a huge jet stream of white hot flames that formed a fireball toward Zabuza's earth prison. He felt the heat of the flames as they exited his mouth, then he slid his headband back over his eye. The torrent of fire closed in on the dome ensuring Zabuza's doom; or they would have if not for the words that Zabuza uttered.

The earth dome began to rumble, small vein like cracks appeared and little tendrils of water gushed out. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" (Water Dragon Projectile Technique) Zabuza yelled. A dragon made of pure water erupted out of the front of the stone dome and smashed directly through Kakashi's fireball, heading straight for the one-eyed copy nin.

"Shit!" Kakashi removed his hands from the ground, and jumped out of the way. Zabuza freed himself and the fight would be escalated to higher levels now. A creepy laugh sounded from where Zabuza was.

"Is that the best you got?" In the thick mist all Kakashi could see was a huge sword coming at his face. It cut through the wind and came with Zabuza's killing intent. Kakashi dodged to the side and gave Zabuza a devastating spin kick that went straight through his face. Kakashi's eyes widened when Zabuza's face turned into water.

"It was a water clone?" Kakashi search for his opponent until he heard a peculiar whisper. He looked down at his feet only to see a foreboding shadow growing bigger at his feet.

"What the hell?" Kakashi looked up to see Zabuza cascading down on him preparing to hack him in halve with his giant Zanbantou. Zabuza's bandaged mouth grinned under its wraps as he made his decent.

"Die, Kakashi!" He split Kakashi down the middle with extreme force creating a shockwave on impact with the ground. Zabuza's smile disintegrated when he saw Kakashi's body turn to water just as his did.

"Ah you mirrored my movements, clever." Zabuza said. A low rumbling came from underneath him. Kakashi's fist burst through the ground hitting Zabuza square in the face, causing him to lift off the ground, but before he could touch back down said copy nin kicked him in torso sending him flying.

He smacked against the hard trunk of a tree, breaking a few ribs in the process but he quickly got up and slid back into his taijutsu stance.

Both jounin panted heavily and were at a brief loss of breath, but soon they charged at each other again, trading quick blows of taijutsu and kenjutsu.

"Kakashi, those Genin of yours won't be safe for long." Zabuza said as he continuously hacked and slashed at Kakashi. He missed all but two; they were minor cut but they were in all the wrong places. He managed to sever a tendon in Kakashi's left shoulder and give him a fairly sized stomach evisceration.

Kakashi on the other hand swiftly dodged while trying to land major blows on Zabuza with the sole kunai in his hand. He stumbled a little from the pain delivered by the wounds and in that brief moment Zabuza took the opportunity attack Kakashi's blind spot and catch him of guard. Zabuza reared back, a demonic laughter came from him a he wildly swung his blade on a horizontal axis.

"This is then end Kakashi!" Much to his surprise Kakashi stopped his blade with his free right hand; he struggled against him but for some reason he couldn't move his sword. It was as if Kakashi just got some sort of chakra boost.

"You're right I did just get a chakra boost." Kakashi said to Zabuza's disbelief.

"H-how did you know what I was thinking?" He got no response from the now confident sensei. All he got was Kakashi rearing his head back in order to move his headband off of his eye for the second time.

The sharingan, it was the Uchiha clan bloodline limit. Its basic form consisted of red eyes with black pupils that were encircled by tomoes that varied from anywhere between one and three, depending on the level of that user. It allowed the use a substantial chakra increase and had extraordinary jutsu copying ability along with supernatural movement prediction. But it was it copying ability that gave it the name Sharingan, the copy wheel eye.

"You made me use this twice; you're a worthy opponent but Momochi Zabuza you must die."

"And how do suppose you're going to do that?" Kakashi chuckled, still holding back Zabuza's Zanbantou.

"Look at the air, what do you see?" Zabuza concentrated and focused on what Kakashi had said, his eyes widened when he realized that the thick mist was no longer in the air, it was completely gone!

"I see you get my point; I can use my Sharingan now."

--

Naruto currently found himself on top of a large lake, staring down the care-free Saiki member. They had been fighting for at least thirty minutes, (which is actually a long time if you think about it.) His plan was working out perfectly. The jutsu Marlucia used was actually flawed, for some strange reason that weird mist, which he conjured up had a wide spread perimeter but it had to travel with him. He noticed not too long ago when they were trading blows he managed to get away and escape the mist but as soon as Marlucia found him the mist returned.

His plan was not to help himself but to help Kakashi, he knew about Kakashi's Sharingan and he knew that a technique like this would be able to defeat it as well. He planned to move away from Kakashi and the others in hopes that he would have soundly beaten Zabuza by then.

But right now Kakashi wasn't his main priority; he had to divert his full attention to fighting Marlucia.

In front of Naruto stood Marlucia on the surface of the water; his entire aura had changed. At first he had a goofy and carefree appearance about him, but it seemed to Naruto that he found his resolve for he stood with a determined and crazed expression. The weapon he wielded also surprised Naruto; it a weapon that Marlucia didn't need to wield. Surrounding him were multiple rings of what looked to be cherry blossoms, but these sakura were white. Where they came from also confused Naruto, they seemed to condense themselves right out of the mist surrounding him.

"What are those things?" Naruto asked. Marlucia chuckled at Naruto's ignorance.

"Fine, I'll tell you if you really want to know. I'm called the white sakura for a reason, because of these things right here." He said while pointing at one of the rings. "This isn't any normal mist, this mist is actually my weapon; you see when I super cool the water vapor in the air with my chakra I can make sharp little ice droplets. With these I can attack you from a distance at will; but the reason for my name is because when I attack with these little droplets they flow like cherry blossoms would in a breeze and when the light hits them they shine a brilliant bright white, hence the White Sakura. There, is that enough?"

"Actually, yeah it is." Naruto said.

"Good…, now die!" Marlucia extended his arm and as if almost on cue, the rings around him all struck out like tentacles. Naruto activated his geostigma making his eyes gain and retain and orange tint, before he charged straight toward the four tentacles of loosely compacted ice in front f him.

"No good!" He sidestepped to the right to avoid the first barrage. He continued to charge in, the second came, this time he arched his body and ran low, going completely under it. Marlucia laughed and sent the last two tendrils of ice at Naruto, simultaneously. Naruto counter by coming to a slid and eventually sliding under the surface of the water. (If you're wondering, Marlucia fights similar to the way Byakuya Kuchiki and Garra fight.)

"That won't work." Marlucia said as he sent all four barrages of ice into the water, his eyes widened before he was hit with a blast of water from underneath him, launchin him into the air.

There was a slight change in momentum and Naruto took his chance to attack. Before Marlucia coul react Naruto was above him, performing several front flips. Using the speed of his flips he switched into an enhanced axe kick, in an attempt to crush the Saiki member's skull. The kick came hard, fast, and most of all sharp. Sharper than most bladed weapons in an ordinary ninjas' arsenal. That kick was beautiful, sure to land on its mark.

It was Naruto's surprise attack and it was blocked, hard, unexpectedly hard. Naruto pumped a considerable amount of chakra into that kick and yet it was stopped by this black clad freak of nature without so much as a single cringe. Naruto's eyes went wide with disbelief.

"Why don't you use that Kekkei Genkai of yours in a proper way?" Naruto's eyes flashed orange with anger. This guy was toying with him like well... a toy and that pissed Naruto of to no ends!

"You know what, I think I will! I'm sick of that carefree little smile on your face, If you want to see my geostigma's power then so be it!" A ring of solid orange encirlcled Naruto's pupil, he meant war, rage would fuel his actions and all rational thought would submit to the power in his eyes.

Naruto was so engrossed in his rage that he failed to notice the black clad foot rushing for him and hitting him dead center in the gut. Before he knew it he was going down in a downward spiral, heading for the harsh and choppy water below.

"Damn you!" he spat out before flipping over and landing on the water. Marlucia landed a couple of yards away from him, awaiting him approach. Thousands of minuscule ice shards flowed around him in a shower of pure white. There was a brief pause as they both waited for the tension to build. The wind blew, the tension grew-they both made there move.

Marlucia was the first to move. A shower of white stormed for Naruto, a simple tactic of overpowering was his game.

"That's it, those ice shards do nothing. My Kekkei Genkai gives me the power to manipulate almost any form of matter as long as there's a sufficient amount my chakra infused within it. So in other words, I can do something like this!" Naruto extended an open hand out and suddenly a wall of water formed in front of and solidified, blocking the wave of ice from hitting.

"Futile-" Naruto was cut off when Marlucia appeared past the wall, almost right next to him to be exact. He grabbed the loose sleeve of Naruto's jacket and flung him straight through his own ice wall. Naruto reacted by flipping over and touching the water and flinging several arc shaped blades of water at Marlucia.

"So this is the power of the geostigma, too bad that it was given to someone like you." He said while doging all of the pressurized blades. "Try this." He raised his hand in the air, suddenly ice particles began to form above him, this time not in small numbers, they were much bigger in quantity.

A vortex of light refracting ice floated above him. He smiled viciously and water began to swirl at his feet.

"Hanami!" (cherry blossom viewing) As if on command a huge tidal wave of frozen fury came rushing at Naruto. Freezing over the surface of the lake giving it a fresh new coat of frost.

Naruto was hit by a furious blast of ice. The attack was far too large for him to block, before he knew it his body went cold and numb from the ice. The tiny pieces of ice ripped and hacked at him, took little bits of his skin away, showing him no mercy. He kept his eyes closed to keep them from getting affected by the frozen shrapnel, it was a useless tactic, if any piece of ice decided to go through his eye then it would, and a thin layer skin wouldn't protect his eyes at all.

This onslaught continued on for several minutes, to him it felt like hours. It soon stopped though ending his cold tipped pain, the attack had plunged him deep under the water by sheer force.

The lake was frozen over, only the small hole where he was forced through the ice showed any liquid water. Light shinned in from that hole right onto his submerged face.

Naruto could hear Marlucia let out a mad cackled on the surface above. He could hear how fervently he indulged in his own laughter. What was so funny, was it Naruto's pain that made him laugh; maybe Marlucia was some kind of sadist.

'Is this the extent of my own power?' Naruto thought to himself as he continued on listening to Marlucia's passion. He sunk deeper into the cold black water. It was weird though, he was sinking. Weren't dead people always supposed to float? His eyes suddenly sprang open as it hit him; he wasn't dead and he still had a chance to escape. Naruto slowly touched his side and cringed from a sudden pain in his side. Through the murky depth of the water he could see a trail of blood floating to the surface of the water.

'Great' he thought 'My blood floats but I don't, what a rip-off.' Painfully, Naruto slowly swam to the surface of the water heading for that hole of light from which he entered through the frozen lake. The need for oxygen grasp at his throat, urging him to hurry the fuck up and get to the god damn air already. He broke through the surface of the water, tasting the sweet and crisp air.

He coughed a couple of times and lay on his back.

"Great, you're still alive. It looks like I can still kill you with my own hands then." He chuckled a few times; Naruto could've sworn that Marlucia was possessed by something other worldly. There was something in his eyes that just confirmed it as he picked Naruto up by the hand.

He punched him Naruto in the stomach. He spit up some blood. Another punch came, followed by another one. Soon Marlucia was pummeling Naruto face, chest and abdominal regions. One after the other shots of pain filled into his body and swarmed like locust.

He was sent flying into the air by a rogue punch; he felt another shot of pain enter his back and shoot him down toward the water, only to be caught by Marlucia's arms. He switched his grip and held Naruto by his head with one hand and cocked back with his left arm.

His hand curled up making a fist, the skin on his hands turned white and almost split. Marlucia struck out with blinding speed as Naruto closed his eyes, awaiting his death.

'Is this the extent of my power, is this all I can do? Maybe I was destined to fail, too bad though I didn't even figure out the true name of the geostigma.' In the short span of seconds before Marlucia crushed his face Naruto thought all of these thoughts.

Something was wrong, nothing was happening, he expected to be dead by now. He opened his eyes to see Marlucia's hand being held back by another man's hand. Or should I say boy. His fist was only a couple of inches away from his face.

A tall eighteen year old boy, dressed in the normal black saiki trench coat, held a tight grip on Marlucia's arm. His hair was blond, relaxed and spiky. He wore a solemn expression on his face, and his emerald green eyes burned with rage. He had a muscular build, and was stable in stature. His face was familiar to Naruto, like he had seen him before. He looked like someone... he knew! This boy looked like Larxene!

"Marlucia!" He spoke. "You that's enough, return back to the base. Zexin won't be pleased you know, you came here without his permission and even alerted another human about the existence of this organization.

"How did-..?" The boy cut him off.

"What, you thought I didn't know? I know that you told a certain Momochi Zabuza of the existence of the organization. Report back, and face your punishment!" Marlucia shoved him off and just 'tch'ed.

"Fine." Marlucia said. He snapped his fingers and a funnel of ice enveloped him, blowing wind into Naruto's face. "This isn't over Namikaze, I'm still going to kill you so just you wait! The next time you see my face it'll be the last time you see anything, remember this name Marlucia Zerbast." The light shined off of the funnel a vibrant white and in seconds Marlucia was gone with the ice and wind.

Naruto saw that the blond was still there, he decided not to leave with his 'partner'. He had to ask the question now.

"Why did you save me?"

"Because you saved her."

"What do you mean by that?"

"My name is Lark Leones, Larxene's brother." Naruto's eyes went wide. He knew he recognized that face, it was close to the same face that he fought not too long ago. "The organization thinks she's dead now, you freed her from the burden of being in allegiance with the Saiki. For that I thank you, Namikaze Naruto. But don't take this lightly the next time you are spotted by us we will kill you and take away your Kekkei Genkai."

"Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me, I'm trying to kill you remember?" He stood silent, the water around began to evaporate.

"Protect her." He said as he burned away in a small mass of flames.

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Yeah, done finally. I know I said I was going to focus on the geostigma a little bit more but I just found out that I'm a liar. And I know that I kind of left you guys off with the ending but trust me it'll work out. I hope this isn't that much of a cliff hanger but if it is... tough nuts! Now leave me reviews and tell me how I did this time around.

Oh and I hope to get at least up to 135+ reviews for this chapter, please contribute to the review count and starting from my next chapter I'm going to give shoutouts to those loyal readers who always left me some reviews and if they have any stories that are not being recognized enough, I will post the names of the stories next to the name of the author. Don't worry either, I will leave each one of them a review on their individual stories. A little gift to the readers, thanks for your support.

Finalized Harem results:

1. Larxene

2. Hinata

3.Tenten

4. Ino

5. And last but not least...Saku- sike! No but really it's just going to Fem Haku

If you have any complaints please write them in a review or a private message. But trust me it's not going to change.

Read and Review

Next Chapter: Destination: Nami no kuni part two

Grim's steppin' out.


	7. Destination: Nami no Kuni part two

Yeaaah boiiiii!

It begins, chapter seven of The Rising begins. For those who didn't see what I put on my last update, I'll tell you. I said that from now on I will give shout outs and honorable mentions to the readers that have stayed constant with giving me reviews; and if those readers have any stories that aren't doing too well I'm going to give mention to stories as well. To put it simple: You give me reviews; then I give you reviews, shout outs and honorable mentions. A good deal, if I do say so myself. At the end of this chapter I will post the names of those loyal readers who always left reviews and their stories. (If they have any.) This way if I get a hit on my story page then someone might look at one of the names that I put up there and decide to go on that story page. Thank you.

OK so on with the business. Naruto has just been defeated by the hands of Marlucia and saved by Lark. In this chapter I plan to jump back into the Zabuza/Kakashi fight, just to let you know what happens. This won't be there only I plan to have them fight at least one more time and when that happens, a certain demon of the mist might or might not die, depending on what happens. The second fight will occur at least a chapter or two from now. Be ready to leave some reviews for me. Just in case any of you were wondering, as if it wasn't already obvious, Marlucia is based off of Marluxia from Kingdom hearts.

Now on with the story… I guess.

Enjoy mutha fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

They fight, he recovers, and they walk alone.

Naruto woke to the sound of yells and screams. His head was throbbing; and he could barely feel his own fingers. The sound of swords clashing reverberated throughout his head or what he thought was his head. Upon further inspection he noticed that he was lying along the wall of a long dark hallway; at the end of it was an open door; tiny rays of light shined through it. Naruto realized that the sounds of battle came from within that room.

He stood up and gave his head a hard rubdown. "Damn; what the hell happened to me? Where the hell am I?" He wasn't really asking anyone but it didn't hurt to try.

"What the hell's going on in there?" he asked blatantly into the air. The sounds of battle he heard from within the room intrigued him, not only did he not know where he was, but he didn't know who was even in the room. Not knowing what to do or even where to go Naruto continued to look at the half open door. Suddenly a blast of air pushed the door open; making it violently swing back and forth making loud crashes of mahogany against the rigged cement. A harsh demonic roar emanated from within the room; there was something weird about the roar, something strangely nostalgic.

"Kyuubi" Naruto finally came around to the conclusion that he was supposed to go to that door; he was being called to that door, summoned by his inner demon. But technically Kyuubi wasn't even a demon; he was just a devolved form of a human.

Slowly Naruto staggered toward the room, hanging along the damp walls all the way. The roars grew louder and faster. They blew past his face in rhythmic pulses, each of them leaving the message: come here. He expected to see a huge fox staring down at him, but when he walked into the room he saw nothing but the slick red hair of Kyuubi shining bright from the light.

Kyuubi sat, not even looking at Naruto, staring at a huge flat screen TV. He rested comfortably on a red plushy recliner couched which he made great use of. Naruto was standing in a giant loft.

"Naruto-kun, it is so great of you to join me." Naruto snuffed wan walked past him, taking a seat in another recliner directly next to Kyuubi's. He sank into the chair and let its soft plushy fabric and material massage his sore body. "Shut up." Was all that Naruto said in reply.

Kyuubi gave a slight chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Naruto said, his anger was obvious from his tone. It wasn't Kyuubi's fault that he was mad; he just got his ass handed to him by a Saiki member, at that moment he should have been mad. No, fuck that, he had the right to be mad. Naruto cast a quick glance at Kyuubi but quickly turned his gaze back to the battle on the television screen.

"What movie is this?" Naruto quizzically scan the screen up and down, he knew he saw this movie before but he couldn't put his finger on what the name was.

"It's called Rebellion of the seven samurai." Kyuubi responded. Naruto then remembered, he saw the movie not too long ago. It was a story of seven legendary samurai, great warriors but because of their great they were hunted down and exterminated. One survived, he vowed revenge against those who killed his comrades but in the end ended up resting in the dirt, with the rest of his comrades. It was a movie that spoke to Naruto for some reason, he didn't know why, it just did.

"Kyuubi, I lost to him. He could have killed me." Naruto sunk deeper into the plushy chair, trying to seek refuge in its nurturing material. Kyuubi locked his eyes on Naruto; he felt what the boy was trying to say. "He could have killed me." Naruto repeated, this time his voice was laced with doubt. "I don't think I can beat them!" His voice had escalated to a harsh yell.

Kyuubi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder; he felt the fear causing Naruto's body to rock back and forth so violently. "You can beat them, trust me." Kyuubi brought his free hand to Naruto's face, which he looked at quizzically. "Just use this next time." At the tip of Kyuubi's finger a dim metallic light formed, it expanded and flowed down to the middle of his arm, it flowed with belittled viscosity, like thin liquid metal and solidified. The metal grew, getting thicker around his arm and the metal lacing his fingers grew into sharp-tip claws. A gauntlet was forming on Kyuubi's arm.

"The gauntlets that I took from those Oni brothers. What did you do?" The once faulty gauntlets had been transformed. They were smaller, thinner, and adorned with intricate little patterns that resembled dozens of tiny dragons flying along its shined and polished metal surface.

"What did you do?" Kyuubi chuckled.

"Let's just say...- I messed with them a little, they're called the dragon gauntlets."

"Cool name." (Don't you say anything bad about the name or else!)

"Thank you; I thought that you needed a weapon to fight with so I made some minor adjustments. Light weight and durable metal, more flexibility within the finger slots and a kick ass paint job."

Naruto observed his new weapon and quickly swiped it from Kyuubi. With a deft motion he slipped it on, feeling the gauntlets soft inner lining as it caressed his hand.

"Perfect fit… hey by the way how did you get your hands on the material to make these?" Kyuubi tapped the gauntlet's surface, creating a distant ping. In a matter of second the metal began to slowly evaporate. "You made it out of chakra, and through me being in direct contact with the scroll I was carrying them with you were able to mold them to your will." Kyuubi responded with a nod of confirmation. His new killing tools allowed for him to lighten up his mood; true he did feel better but he still felt a little sour from the beating he just received. Nevertheless he felt a little better. A familiar pressure made its way to his shoulder, it was Kyuubi's hand.

"Now, go forth and return to where you should be." With a smile on his face Naruto stood up and walked back to the door from whence he came in, he stopped before walking out. Kyuubi had turned back to his movie.

"Kyuubi, about that name; I'd rather call them the Spitfire Gauntlets." Kyuubi just waved him of, signaling for him to do so with the gauntlets as he himself willed. Naruto chuckled aloud, and left Kyuubi alone with the soft click of the door closing being the last sound he heard Naruto make.

--

Kakashi currently had the upper hand, Momochi Zabuza was finished. It was his time to leave this earth, so said Kakashi's Sharingan. He currently had the Ex Nin pinned up against a tree, he was drenched from the Suiton jutsu he just hit him with and was panting from fatigue.

"How, how is it that you can tell what I'm doing before I do it. Can you tell the future or something?" Zabuza said in a very battle withered voice. His massive sword stood erect in the ground twenty meters from where the two Jounin were positioned. Kakashi leaned in closer to Zabuza, giving him a closer view of his Sharingan.

"Yes I can see the future, and I can see that nothing but death waits in your future." He held a kunai to his throat, applying a little pressure so that he could draw blood. "Who are you working for?" Zabuza looked at him with weak eyes.

"G-Gato, I work for Gato he's the one pulling the strings." Kakashi narrowed his eyes, hoping to ferret out any other information. "It's the truth." Kakashi removed the blade from his throat, and placed it to Zabuza's heart. He pressed into his exposed flesh, making Zabuza utter an annoyed grunt.

"You're a nuke Nin you deserve to die, and I'll be the one to make sure you're labeled as deceased on my bingo book." Kakashi's threat didn't seem to completely drill its way into Zabuza's head, for by Kakashi could see through Zabuza's mask, the ex-nin of Kirigakure no Sato was smiling. Laughter ensued shortly after. What was so damn funny, he was going to die and he's laughing!

"Laugh it up Momochi; it'll be your last." He cocked back and raised his weapon above his head. He could hear his own breathing, he was tired and his body could have used some rest. Zabuza's laughter grew even louder, into a maniacal cackle.

"Do it Kakashi, kill me!" He yelled; his haggard face was lined with sweat at the forehead. Zabuza had gone to the point where death was the only option and his only source of freedom. As it seemed to Kakashi; Momochi Zabuza would and wanted to die.

"Have it your way, time…to die!" The kunai swiftly cut through the air, guided by Kakashi's hand and sure to hit its mark. But the strike dell short, Kakashi had stopped right before plunging the blade of his weapon directly into Zabuza's heart. He turned back to look at Tazuna and his two students.

Sasuke and Sakura stood on looking in the distance waiting for their sensei to kill Zabuza. Tazuna stood in between them, the shaking in his knees had stopped for he was no longer afraid; he knew Kakashi would kill Zabuza. There was something odd about them though, Sakura was still shaking as expected but it was to his surprise that Sasuke was also doing the same.

The proud Uchiha was shaking in his trousers but not from the amount of killing intent Kakashi and Zabuza pumped out but from what he saw in his sensei's eye.

"Sharingan" He quickly muttered. "He has the Sharingan… but how is that possible?" The crown bloodline of the Uchiha's was possessed by someone other than an Uchiha! What was the point of it belonging to the Uchihas if other people would somehow get their hands on it?

Sakura turned to her crush, making an attempt to ask him what was the matter and wrapped her arms around his arm. Unfortunately for her he shoved her to the ground without so much as a single glance.

"S-Sasuke-kun what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong!" He yelled back her, causing to back away and keep some distance from her furious crush. It was pretty clear what the problem really was. Kakashi had the crown jewel of the Uchiha and Sasuke had become frustrated over the fact that a person who wasn't an Uchiha obtained it while he himself had no idea how to even activate it. He took pity on the raven haired boy; he understood most of his confusion.

The cyclopean jounin made an attempt to slide his headband back over his eye but before he could finish the task he heard a voice of in the distance.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water release: Violent Water Wave) Before Kakashi could react he was hit by a powerful jet of water sending him a few meters away from Zabuza. Judging by how far he went and the power of the jutsu that hit him was, Kakashi suspected that whoever assaulted him was either really weak or really far away.

"Kakashi-sensei" Sakura screamed trying to run to where he was. He stuck is hand out signaling for her to stop. "But, you're…"

"Don't come any closer, protect Tazuna no matter what!" She stopped at the sound of his voice.

"O-Ok" she replied walking back to Tazuna and taking her prior defensive position.

Kakashi stood up, wiping himself off. He looked over at Zabuza who had not moved since Kakashi had removed the kunai's blade from his throat. From Kakashi's perspective it looked as if Zabuza was currently immobilized from any further movement, probably dead, it was probably the four senbon needles protruding from his abdomen, leg, neck, and chest that gave it away. Small trickles of blood exited from his tiny wounds, fatal shots, yup he was dead.

Still he averted his attention to whoever cast the jutsu. Panting heavily, he looked for the culprit. He saw a boy wearing a blue and brown battle kimono; he wore sandals and his face, adorned with a mask that matched that of a tracker-Nin's.

"Who are you?"

"That need not be of your concern; I am nothing but a simple tracker Nin. Here for the bounty on this man's head." He pointed toward Zabuza's limp and battered body, said nuke Nin's eyes had already rolled back in his head, and he ceased to breath. "So please let me take him and I shall be of no trouble to you." The boy spoke in a gentle tone, it sounded peaceful and almost serene. He obviously didn't want to get into any altercations with them.

Odd for a tracker Nin, they were, most of the time, known for their devastating ruthlessness and stealth on the battlefield. Normally a tracker ninja would go in and kill their target along with witnesses without saying a word to them or them even noticing.

But this one was an anomaly among tracker Nin, this boy actually talked to the witnesses of his targets death, which was allowed by their code.

"Fine, you may leave with the body, I'll let you handle this from here on in." He gave a curt bow before disappearing in a flash of mist and reappearing before Zabuza's dead body. He hoisted his body on his back, flung his arm over his own shoulder. The boy stood there for what seemed like forever, like he was thanking Kakashi for not killing Zabuza when he had the chance.

The sun cast a delightful ray of light upon both Kakashi and the tracker nin; it bathed them in the most florescent glow of yellow and white, the moment looked as if it was scripted like in a movie; it was far too surreal to be real. It was not until a small shadow cast itself upon the tracker Nin did the amazing moment cease to exist. Kakashi looked to see what made the shadow, only to see Naruto in the air coming straight down on the small tracker Nin.

"Katon: Kobushi Dai no jutsu! (Fire release: Great palm technique) With an open flaming palm Naruto came crashing down on the young boy, attempting to kill him instantly. His plan was foiled for the boy dodged at the last second; he jumped into trees and disappeared. The impact of Naruto's jutsu created a huge crater, scattering dust and debris everywhere.

"Who was that girl?" Naruto asked. Kakashi lifted his eyebrow; his other eyebrow was now cleverly concealed by his Hita-ate. "Who was she?" He asked again.

"Girl, what girl that tracker Nin was a boy." Naruto moved his head back a little bit.

"No Naruto that was a boy." This time Naruto put his finger to his chin while furrowing his eyebrow. He then shook his head and chuckled.

"Kakashi-sensei I know that that was a girl, I know a girl when I see one." At this moment he was walking out of his own crater. He dusted the small blotches of dirt off of his black pants as if he wanted to remove the very fabric from his leg. "Damn this is going to stain he said not paying enough to Sakura who was currently trying to talk to him. Every time she got in his face he would ignore her and turn the other way, but finally he submitted to her repeated ranting and spoke to her.

"What do you want?" He said. The rest of their team had gathered in a circle, waiting for them to finish. "Well." She paused for a moment, stuck in some sort of temporary daze then spoke.

"Naruto-san where were you and how come your clothes are all ripped and dirty?" Naruto cringed at her question; it brought back memories of his fight with Marlucia; the real reason his clothes were so marred and crumpled. He looked away but she followed his gaze, getting in his face and urging him to tell her.

"It's from that last jutsu I did." She shook her head and closed her eyes making a distinct…'mmm' sound.

"No that can't be it your clothes are to cut up for that!"

"Just leave me alone."

"But…I just want to know about…" Naruto then fixed on her a piercing glare that made her back up with a scared yelp. He didn't need this annoying pink haired thing bothering him at the moment.

"Zabuza had an associate; just leave me alone, you're so annoying!" Sakura went wide eyed; her eyes were as wide as saucers at the moment. She dropped her head; it was the exact thing Sasuke always said to her, 'annoying'. Maybe she really was annoying, the matter was too much for her to handle. She hung her head down low and retreated away from Naruto and joined the rest of the team.

"You ready to go?" Naruto confirmed it with a nod walked over to his team. "Let's not waste any time we have to get to our destination before sundown." They took a couple of moments to recuperate from the effects of the battle. Each of them took several breaths to clear minds.

"Let's go." Kakashi said.

--

Zabuza was laid down on a soft plush couch by the tracker Nin youth that 'killed' him. The senbon still stuck out from his now paling flesh. He took off his mask, revealing that he was actually a she. She was a girl with brown eyes and delicate facial features. She knelt down next to where Zabuza lay, still and rigid and gently picked out each of the senbon she had embedded in his skin. She removed all four with expert precision and skill.

Instantly the ex Nin sprang to life, and reanimated himself, and the first thing he did was open his mouth and gasp for air while at the same time waving his arms around and about in an attempt to grasp at whatever he could find.

"WHAT... H-Haku?" He had to switch between gasping, coughing and talking while trying to communicate with his black haired pupil. He lay on his back and tilted his head to the side in order to get a better view of the small girl who ended his life and in turn saved it. "Is it over, Haku?" She nodded back to him, making her hair fall in front of her and frame her face.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama, we're currently in your hideout." He tilted his head back to its original upright position, his eye now facing the direction of the ceiling. Zabuza suddenly lifted up one of his barely visible eyebrows, correct Zabuza had eyebrows.

"What about those Konoha shinobi?" His breathing increased rapidly. Haku smiled and uttered a little chuckle. With the little strength that he had hoisted himself up in order to get to eye level with Haku. "Well what about them?"

"They know not a thing, as far as I'm concerned they think you're dead and I'm just a simple tracker Nin." He sighed and shifted his position slightly; he instantly keeled over clutching his ribs in pain. This was followed by a series of intense grunts and cries of agony. Haku couldn't help but have have empathy for her surrogate father.

"Z-Zabuza-sama, please don't move to much, you're body is still too damaged for you to make such drastic movements!" Persuaded by Haku's concerned words Zabuza took heed to her advice and lay back down. He rubbed the small nick in his skin that senbon left, unnoticeable scar that he wouldn't mind bearing. A harsh crash came from the doorway; both Zabuza and Haku snapped their heads toward the sound. Another series of bangs and crashes hit the door again; it was followed by a rather raspy voice yelling out his name.

"Oh, what now?", he said mustering up enough strength to move his hand and message the side of his neck. He shifted yet again waved his hand; giving Haku his permission to open the door. Her face looked rather concerned, it seemed like she didn't want anyone to intrude on Zabuza's healing time. Still Haku stood up and walked to the door; her blue kimono brushing the ground as she walked. This Kimono was different from the former battle Kimono that she donned onto herself before, this one was much longer. She cracked the door open an inch; letting a ray of light run past the entrance of doorway, and much to his displeasure hitting Zabuza in the face.

"Zabuza, you dunce!", A small man burst through the door, knocking Haku down, and rushed forth to Zabuza's vulnerable body. His shaggy gray hair moved around and about, for he constantly moved while he swore at the injured nuke nin. He was incredibly short and look to be in his mid fifties, his full height while standing up was only about a foot above Zabuza's bed, enough for him to see the small man's haggard face. Most people would say that he was short, COMPASSIONATE people would say that he was height challenged.

He was followed in by two other men, most likely bandits, for their attire fit the part. They came in not noticing Haku and closed the door; devilish grins were on their faces. They walked up and stood behind their leader; they stood behind this man and aimed their swords at Zabuza. In the background Haku stay quiet, silent and hidden. This man was Gato.

"Zabuza, you failed. You're truly an idiot, I've never seen such incompetence before in my life. Remember I'm paying you to kill that bridge builder!" He visage appeared black against the light shining though the open doorway, giving him a dark and feral appearance. It made him seem more intimidating than he really was. Zabuza held an impassive expression on his face, an enigmatic veil draped over face in order to hide his true feelings. Gato brought his face close to Zabuza's and held it steady saying, "Well what do you have to say for yourself?"

The ex mizu nin narrowed his eyes and gave a straight forward growl, telling Gato to back off or else.

"Oh you want to play tough, do you? I know you're injured right know so how about you play tough with my guys back here?" He thrust a chubby finger back toward his two lackeys. They pulled up their sleeves trying to show off their minuscule 'muscle', which Zabuza just laughed at.

"Let's get this straight little man." Zabuza thrust his hand out, ignoring the pain in his arm and grabbed Gato by the neck and left him virtually suspended in the air. He shook and struggled to free himself from Zabuza's insane grip. His two henchmen tried to free him but their actions were stopped by Haku who suddenly appeared behind them wielding a set of three senbon in both her hands and pressed the prickly blades against both their necks. She uttered two simple words: "don't move."

"Nice work Haku-chan, keep them like that." Zabuza said. Haku smiled displaying a slight blush, further proving her attachment to Zabuza. Zabuza returned his gaze to Gato and while still holding him up he shifted positions and sat upright yet again, cringing all they way.

Through clenched teeth Gato said: "Damn you". Zabuza admired the man's courage under pressure.

"I don't work for you Gato, so I suggest that you leave at once, as a matter of fact let me help you with that!" Zabuza slowly stood up, shaking the pain off of him and walk over to an open window, with all his might he cast the small man out of the window but quickly pulled back so that he would realize that Zabuza was serious. Gato's limbs vibrated violently while he was suspended in the air, only hanging on to Zabuza's right arm.

The room grew silent, all that could be heard was the shaky breathing Gato periodically gave out. On a tree directly parallel to them sat three crows, the messengers of death. They wailed in anticipation, waiting for a possible meal. "What do you want from me, anything, I'll pay you"! Gato jammed his hand into the pocket of his gray coat and pulled out several bills of money, he waved in Zabuza's face in an attempt to free himself.

Zabuza's lips curled into a crescent smile, although it could not be seen the look in his eyes spoke for itself. No longer did he want money, he didn't need that, he was already well financed as it was. Instead he wanted something else, Zabuza wanted power and he already had a way to obtain it.

His grip on Gato's neck increased causing the small tyrant to go into a series of chokes, gags, and gurgles. "I have no use for your money; I work a different organization now, much more worth my while than your petty and insignificant desires. No money, No assistance, all I require is power!" Zabuza's pale skin flashed with a onset of heat, his veins bulged out of his forehead and his eyes, once dull and cold became fiery and passionate. Gato forced his fear down his throat and dared to speak again.

"But, I can't die." Zabuza laughed.

"This world needs you no more than I do." Gato's eyebrow shifted to an upward position. "I'll spare for now, but not without any pain." He dropped his gaze below to a small lake that rested calmly beneath them, a drop that loomed on being one hundred feet above ground was sure to leave Gato maimed for quite awhile.

Gato shook his head left and right, and sprung his hands up, conjoining them in a prayer-like fashion. Zabuza could hear the loud clatter of his teeth crashing into each other. "Please, let me go I promise that I won't return, just let me go!" Gato instantly held his tongue from further spitting out unwanted words. He had just agreed to his own pain, and tried to make up for it by clenching his mouth shut with his own hand.

"Well If you say so, I'll let you go." Zabuza's eyebrows narrowed to particular angle that gave his eyes a slanted cat-like impression. He loosened his grip, letting Gato slip through his finger just a bit. Gato's girlish yelp ensued. His pleading became frantic, now he waved his arms about; he had even resorted to striking Zabuza's arm.

On a final word Zabuza said: "Good bye Gato" and released his grip, letting Gato cascade down in the water below. "Maybe I should have warned him that the water was shallow... Oops." What followed was the terrified and fading wail of Gato followed by a brief splash. It sounded like one of those roadrunner cartoons.

Haku chuckled at the faint sound of Gato hitting the water, her expression was childish and one of innocence. "What are you laughing at, you bitch?" Her expression instantly changed as she lifted her nose in a snobby fashion.

"Zabuza-sama what should I do with these two nuisances?" She asked, hoping he would allow her to kill them.

"Kill them." Her face beamed with a malevolent smile, much different from the cute and innocent smiled she expressed mere seconds ago. Zabuza also smiled under the guise of his facial bandages when he heard the sound of metal entering flesh followed by two loud thumps on the floor. "Get rid of them, I don't to have that disgusting smell intrude on my rest." He made his way to the bed he once laid on repeated his previous action by sprawling himself on top of it. With a satisfactory sigh he closed his eyes, slipping into the world of dreams and began planning on ways to exact his revenge on a certain copy Nin.

(Border of Nami no Kuni) (Wave country)

Team seven and Tazuna now rested in small boat; they were currently gliding across the water. The giant unfinished bridge loomed over them as a human loom over any insect. The bridge was big to say the least. Naruto spoke in a low whisper, a gentle breeze blowing in their wake.

"So this is the bridge everyone has been talking about." He said, He looked over and noticed Tazuna's massive smile. Now sober he was able to enjoy the partial fruit of his labor, it was obvious that the man took pride in his work.

"This is quite impressive, a perfect way of communication with Hi no Kuni." Kakashi added. He currently had his Sharingan covered. Sasuke stared fervently at Kakashi through narrow eyelids whilst Sakura did the same to him, her gaze struck Naruto as a bit more perverted as usual. It continued on like this for at least several more minutes. Naruto leaned on the edge of the boat, letting his head lay of the edge so that the cool refreshing droplets of water could sooth his pounding headache.

They all felt the boat come to an abrupt stop when it hit the shore followed by the rocking motion Tazuna created when he stepped out of the boat. "Welcome to Wave country."

Naruto brought his head above the boat's edge so that he could see the master bridged builder, despite being in the thick fog that settled over the water's surface, Naruto could still see Tazuna. He spoke out: "Since you made it here I'm guessing that our mission is over and we will take our leave."

"Not quite Naruto." Kakashi said, he held he stomach where one of Zabuza's blows had made contact with his skin. "I'm still injured and it seems as though I don't have enough energy to travel that distance again. Not to mention that you yourself have your own injuries that should be tended to."

Naruto shook his head with his eyes closed. "I don't need it, I'm a fast healer if you know what I mean." Kakashi knew very well that Naruto spoke of Kyuubi, needless to say, in order for him to keep the secret and settle any suspicions as to why he healed so fast, Kakashi would have to keep Naruto in Nami for at least a day before they set off again. Not to mention that he didn't have an ancient nine-tailed demon fox inside of him that could tend to his injuries for him.

There was a brief pause before Naruto understood what Kakashi meant and he nodded his head in agreement, saying: "Fine, we'll rest for some time before we set off again."

"Well, then come on then." Tazuna interrupted with a smile. "Let me show you where you'll be resting." They filed out of the boat, followed Tazuna. From the shore he led them through the heart of the town. While there Sakura had noticed that it was in shambles, little kids looking for food on the streets, their markets barely had food for one person let alone a whole town. It was a sight that perturbed all of them greatly, even Naruto who would shudder every time he gazed upon the sad and hope deprived faces of the town's inhabitants. But It disturbed Tazuna the most, his head hung low the entire time.

After what seemed like an ocean of faces They made their way on to a secluded section of the town, near the harbor of the town. There a fairly large house stood near the edge of Harbor. Its suburban design gave team seven and Kakashi an awkward feeling inside. It looked so different from their houses, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura followed Tazuna to the front of the door. They noticed that the loud creaks of the floorboard meant that the wooden boardwalk was old.

Tazuna twisted the knob and pushed open the door with an uncontrollable screech. The wood in the door was just as dusty and old as the boardwalk. The sound could be compared to a banshee's shriek, or one of Sakura's lowest screams.

The house was cozy, it was much nicer on the inside than on the outside. It had a warm feel to it, old fashioned but it wasn't what one would expect after seeing the unattractive outside of the house. That was just the living room.

There was a woman sitting at the table in the back, her facial expression was one of anxiety. She constantly shifted in the seat and bit her nails. Only until Tazuna tapped on the shoulder did she jump up and recognize him.

"OH, thank goodness that you're home." She held her hand to her noticeable bosom. She leaned in embracing Tazuna, and not letting go until Kakashi coughed. "Oh and who might you be?" She scanned them from left to right with her jet black eyes and her matching hair waved from side to side as she did so, like smooth black smooth black tendrils of water being pushed by the wind.

Tazuna extended a demonstrating hand toward Kakashi and his team. "These are the Ninja from Konoha that escorted me here, and they went through quite a lot to do it as well." Her lips curled into a warm smile and she gave them a curt bow.

"Thank you for returning him, I don't know what I would do without him." Kakashi waved the matter off, simply saying to her that it was nothing. "I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, and I sincerely give you my thanks. Won't you please tell me your names; I would like to know the names of the shinobi who helped bring my father safely back home."

Kakashi was first to speak up. "Hatake Kakashi."

Then Naruto. "Na-... Uzumaki Naruto." _Whew, dodged that bullet! _He thought as he just barely stopped himself from saying his real last name.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Like always he had his hands in his pockets, trying to keep up his cool guy visage.

"Haruno Sakura". She said her name fast and without hesitation, not even taking her eyes off of Tsunami for even a second. Maybe she was jealous of Tsunami's lustrous hair... who knows? They all bowed at once, in perfect unison, it looked routine.

It was after everyone had introduced themselves that a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in." Tsunami said. The door opened with another discordant screech and in stepped someone that Naruto did not need to see. A sense of Nostalgia surged through Naruto's body when he saw who it was at the door. His eyes were wide.

...So were her eyes. This girl, he remembered her remembered her blonde hair, and her green eyes. Her stable stature and delicate features, he remembered it all perfectly.

"Y-You...what are you doing here?" Anger flashed through him as well as her. Everyone else in the house, who had gone to sit on the couch looked on, all of them had one eyebrow lifted.

_'Blond hair' _Naruto thought.

_'Blond hair' _she thought as well. Both their hands curled into tight balls.

_'Green eyes, check.'_

_'Blue eyes, check.'_

_'Six whisker marks on his either side of his cheeks'_

_'Two tendrils of her hair pinned back, resembling horns.'_

_'Has a dangerous aura.'_

_'Has murderous killing intent.' _

"Namikaze Naruto!"

"Larxene Leones!" They both said this in unison, causing everyone else to utter a unified 'huh'.

"What, have you come to finish hunting me down?" Naruto clenched his teeth as he slid into his taijutsu stance." Larxene smiled, but it quickly reversed itself into a furious snarl.

"I could say the same for you, you bastard!" It was funny Naruto really was a bastard. They stood silent for a moment; all that could be heard was the ominous howl of the wind. Naruto's eyes flashed and a ring of orange formed around his pupils. He could hear the loud thumping of his own heart, or maybe it was Larxene's.

"Excuse me" Tsunami said interrupting Naruto and Larxene's little stare down. "But do you two know each other?" Naruto stopped for a moment, then it hit him. As much as he wanted to He couldn't fight Larxene here, unless he wanted to destroy the place. So he improvised.

With a smile Naruto turned around and faced Tsunami. "Yeah, you could say that she's a friend of mine." Tsunami giggled and rest her hands on her lap.

"Well, I had no idea. It turns out that Larxene here is actually the daughter of my father's brother. In short, she's my cousin." Tsunami pointed at Larxene, with one of her slender fingers and waved it up and down. "She showed up at my door step just yesterday."

Naruto turned back to Larxene, who had gone to putting on a fake smile as well. He touched his chin. "Really, very interesting." He gave her a stark stare.

"Well, Naruto-kun, I would like for us to catch up a little bit. Is that alright with you Tsunami-san?" Tsunami nodded, giving Larxene a smile of approval. She fluttered her hand at them, urging them to get out and 'catch up'. "Well Naruto-kun shall we go?"

He agreed, maintaining his fake smile and the two of them left though the front door. The door closed with a loud bang and when on the outside the two of them disappeared in a flash of speed, both of them not wanting to waste anytime.

"They make a good match, don't you think?" She said two Kakashi, who simply rubbed the back of his head, responding with a simple: "yeah". He shifted his gaze toward the window again and looked out into the distance at the deteriorating town. His eyes narrowed.

'_Those were fake smiles' _He thought to himself and sighed heavily. _'Wait, did she just say Namikaze?'_

(random beach shore)

Naruto and Larxene stood on the cool sand of a beach far from Tazuna's seaside home. The sun was setting in the horizon, taking with it its valuable light. It rays sunk away from the ground, forced away by the pursuing darkness, with the setting of the sun it was now dusk.

Over the horizon twilight appeared and the sounds of the waves crashing against the damp sand filled the air; the mist that was there before had retreated back into the open water. The giant unfinished bridge hung over them shrouding them in a veil of darkness, like a dark blanket cast above them. Their fight would be in the shadows.

"Before we start tell me, what are you doing here?" Her back was against the bridge, turning her body into a petite silhouette of rage and spitefulness. Both their chakra signatures spiked and the air was thick with the foul presence of intent killing intent.

"I'm on a mission, I'm supposed to be here." His hands were jammed in his pockets and his head cocked off to the side, facing the water. A cloud shifted from it's place, letting a bit of lunar light hit Naruto and giving his unruly blond hair a glossy appearance like the surface of a polished blade. "But since you are here..." His voice trailed off arrogantly and he gave her a smile to match his voice. " -I guess that I can continue my interrogation."

"Really now." Larxene thrust her open palm into the air. " Five minutes, this'll take five minutes, last time I underestimated you and held back but now I'll kill you!" She withdrew her arm and placed it on the sand, her pale fingers burying themselves into the shifting sand. She outstretched her legs, putting one farther out than the other, and arched her back as if she was about to compete in a race.

"Ready" She said. Naruto raised a comical eyebrow at her ready stance but shrugged it off as nothing and slid into his own fighting stance. In matched silence, looking angrily into one anothers eyes and when the light of the first appeared they both lunged for each other. Plowing directly into each other with a barrage of quick-paced punches, kicks, and lunges.

"Not bad" Said Naruto as he ducked a wide sweep kick directly over his head and with a pivot of his right foot spun and rammed is shin into her ribs, sending her flying several feet away, near the quickening tide. "But it's not good either." He wiped his nose with his thumb in a snobby fashion, extending to her a smirk that simply oozed out his confidence.

The match had just began and already Naruto was getting the best of her. It seemed too easy. Naruto's thoughts were proved correct when he felt his hair stand on end; Larxene's chakra spiked and she drew a kunai. She disappeared in a flash.

A blistering pain erupted from his left arm, he looked down and noticed that he was bleeding and Larxene was nowhere to be found. Naruto spun around only to meet Larxene's foot.

"Namikaze!" She screamed before hitting Naruto in the face. The shock of the kick racked his entire body. "Die!" She followed up with a round of high speed taijutsu; some blows were blocked, others dodged, and some weren't even close to making contact. Larxene was furious and had taken to assaulting Naruto with a seemingly never-ending chain of taijutsu.

Naruto dodged left, and was then kick in the face causing him to stumble backwards. "How do you like that? I hope that wasn't too much for you, Namikaze!" She said giving him the same smirk he had only moments ago given her.

"Boy you really do like saying my last name a lot, just shut up already!" Naruto faded from her vision and reappeared behind her. He grabbed her, locking both her arms into a full nelson submission. "Got you." She tried to break free of his grasp but couldn't.

"Now what do you plan to do?" They stood there for what seemed like an eternity until Naruto said: "This".

A clone burst out of the sand in front of her, he laughed maniacally, an exact copy of his master. With a snap of his jaw, Naruto's clone suddenly stopped laughing and began to rapidly punch Larxene in her stomach, then moving up to her face, then dropping back down to her stomach. She coughed blood and grunted from every strike let loose upon her body. But suddenly he stopped.

The Naruto that stood was holding he down, the real Naruto, asked her: "How do you like it, a nice, skull shattering punch to the face, or would you rather have the real me snap your neck, killing you instantly?" The Naruto clone that had ceased pummeling her body had his arm cocked back, ready to give the final blow.

They both began laughing.

"Shut up."

They continued.

"Shut up."

Still both Narutos continued to laugh.

"I said shut up!" A dangerous aura enveloped her body, it was black, but unlike Naruto had expected it to be, it wasn't evil it was just an aura of anger. Larxene outstretched her hands and sent both Naruto and his clone tumbling twenty feet away.

"Damn, she blew me back, but that didn't feel like chakra, it felt like something different." He reluctantly rose to his feet and smirked at Larxene.

She growled in anger and disappeared, taking with her a stream of sand that flowed to the right. Following the direction of the sand Naruto jumped back and dodged Larxene's left hook. She threw out another punch, which Naruto caught.

Through narrow eyelids and gritted teeth Larxene said: "Damn you Naruto!" He laughed but his grin faded as she broke out of his grip and gave him a solid blow to his abdomen, followed by kick to the face. Naruto's vision went blurry from the impact and through the blackened corner of his eye he saw Larxene press her fingers to the ground yet again.

Sensing danger Naruto jumped into the air to avoid any ground attacks that she would try. "Damn it!" He said as he began to make hand signs in mid-air, working through each seal, being careful not to slip up. The frigid air of the night stung his lungs as he inhaled, invading into his chest and ferreting out every soft spot of his inner body.

"Fuuton Ninpou: Kamikaze!" (Wind release ninja arts: Hair wind) From Naruto mouth came a cold funnel of air, spinning at such a rate that it howled like a wolf. Larxene did not falter or run, she stood her ground and much to Naruto's surprise her shadow began to change, it expanded and swallowed her whole; moving her out of the way of danger.

_'She sank into her shadow, she's a shadow user!' _Naruto thought, then his eyes widened. Any icy chill ran through his back and he felt it run rapidly in his body. Larxene had somehow appeared behind him and stabbed him; he stared in amazement when he looked down and witnessed a solid spear of dark energy protruding out of his stomach. He let out a roar of pain and spun in the air, and blew wind but there was nobody. Where he thought Larxene was, in reality she wasn't. Before he fell to the ground he saw that she was back to her original position, as if she never moved at all.

Shakily standing up Naruto staggered two his feet and brushed himself free of dirt and anything else that would dirty his jacket. He hadn't expected an attack so mysterious, it was something he had never seen. "What was that, is it some kind of jutsu?" He smiled a little bit from his great interest in Larxene's seemingly new ability.

Once again the area became silent, letting only the waves speak out with a sound that was like the dull roar of a lion. Larxene was standing now, her fingers no longer groping in the sand and to Naruto's relief her shadow reverted back to its original form, a bulky resemblance of her small form that lingering on the ground. The way angle of light that the moon shone on her caused Larxene's shadow to stretch out to her left, like a flat, silent, and deadly pet waiting to do its master's bidding.

"Members of the Saiki have what you would call special weapons, all of us have chosen them ourselves and they have done the same by choosing us as their wielder." Larxene said while plucking at a loose strand of hair that flew down her face. "They can be anything from something as simple as a sword to something as complex as power over an element." Naruto's mind instantly drifted toward Marlucia and his mastery of the element, water.

"Then what's yours?" He said; after giving it several pokes Naruto painfully pulled out the shadowy spear from his body, not unscathed though. The spear burned his hand, it felt like he had put his hand directly on a bed of hot coals. "I would like to know before we continue." Larxene eyelids slid down, her eyes half open with her full eyelashes enhancing the emerald green color of her eyes accompanied by the magnificent shine of the moon.

"My power, is my shadow, weird. It seemed that my own weapon resided withing myself." Naruto grunted with pain but continued to listen to Larxene speak. "I just got it, but it doesn't matter now, seeing as how I can't be with the organization anymore." Her eyes widened, she had said too much so she covered her mouth with her own hands. At least Naruto now knew the reason she was at Tazuna's, she was kicked out of the Saiki and fled to this place. It was probably her only choice, an organization such as the Saiki probably wouldn't let her live if wasn't part of it and still knew about it.

Naruto drew his hand to his chin, winced and said: "So you were kicked out and this is your only place of shelter..." He waited her to respond. After a few moments her shadow became disfigured and lunged at him, still attached to her. It struck him in the shoulder.

"So what!" Another shadow tendril hit him directly parallel to the first one. "I don't care, all I want to do is get rid of you, I can't stand the sight your smug face!" Naruto looked up at her, perpetuating onto his face a crazed smile, he bared his teeth to her and his eyes were open wide, with a solid ring of orange encircling each of his pupils.

He latched on to one of the shadows impaling his body, and with the sound of sizzling flesh he slid it out of his skin, soon followed by the next spear. He held onto both of them with all of his strength. All though it did not show on his face, Naruto's palms were burning and seething with intense pain. "Then if your out of the Saiki, why do you still want me dead. Stop! Don't answer that, I'll do it for you." He tossed the shadows away and they retracted back to Larxene.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he extended his hand toward the water. "I learned how to do some more tricks with my Geostigma, tell me if you like them. _'rise'_. Instantly a glistening wave of water rose from the tide near Larxene, drawing her attention toward the hulking mass of water. In the brief moment that Larxene looked away Naruto ran up and stuck Larxene on her side. On instinct Larxene grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him in, giving him a headbutt to the face.

Naruto felt his bruised flesh, feeling his nose. Laced with a thin coat of crimson blood were his fingers. He growled and stomped on the ground, the sand underneath it erupted in a huge torrent of dust, blowing her away, it contorted and funneled and spun. _'Reverse' _The funnel stopped for a moment, suspending Larxene in mid-air for a small amount of seconds and reversed its rotation sucking her back toward him.

"It's over." His arched out his hand; from his palm came a spark of a flame, it grew bigger, crackling with thunderous howls. "Katon: Kobushi Dai no jutsu!" (Fire release: Great palm technique). In an attempt to save herself, Larxene spun with the clockwise motion of the funnel, in a drill-like fashion; she aimed her attack for Naruto.

"No use.." He grabbed her foot and drew upon the power of the Geostigma, stopping the flow of air. ".. it's too late now Larxene. I'll show you what happens when you oppose me!" He slammed his palm into Larxene, the result: A huge explosion that scattered sand everywhere. There was no doubt that a sound like that would attract some of the local citizens. The sand shrouded the clear moonlight, casting upon the chilly air a hue of hazy white and brown and making the air visible . Everything went black for Naruto.

Not knowing where he was he felt around for the ground, and a sense of falling overwhelmed him. When he opened his eyes a bit he gasped; there was no ground for him to feel. He noticed that he was falling in nothing, a realm of darkness where he could see nothing but darkness.

It was cold, colder than it was on the beach where he and Larxene fought. He inspected himself, nothing was out of place and he was in one piece. What this place was, he didn't know. "Maybe I'm dead" He said to himself, "Maybe this is the dark gateway to hell, I know this can't be the road to heaven." He laughed at his little observation and leaned his head over to the right. There he saw Larxene's body cascading down with him, unconscious and bruised. On her abdomen was a terrible burn where Naruto had struck her; alive she was but her condition was worsening. Her falling form resembled an eagle shot down in flight.

**"She did this."**Kyuubi said to Naruto through their mental link. He was a little taken by surprise when he heard the sudden sound of Kyuubi's voice. "**She said that her weapon was her own shadow was her weapon, she was wrong."**

_'Wrong, then what's her weapon?' _Naruto rested his hands behind his head and outstretched his legs, as if sitting on a couch. He grunted and waited for Kyuubi to respond.

**"Larxene is in fact more important than she realizes. It is not her shadow that she weilds but it is in fact the power of this place, the shadow realm, that gives her her power. She unknowingly chose her shadow as her weapon and in turn it wasn't her shadow but in fact all shadows that chose her as their master. She may be of some use to us Naruto, I think It wouldn't be wise to kill her."**

Naruto took into mind what Kyuubi said, the blond girl was special, he couldn't deny it. The entire shadow realm wouldn't just choose a person to be its master unless that person would be important in the near or distant future. Never taking his eyes off her, he thought of some of the possible outcomes and consequences that he might face if he were to let Larxene live, they weren't all too good. Still, she would be a powerful asset to have around, all he needed to do was keep her around long enough for him to trust her.

_'I don't know Kyuubi, she might end up trying to betray me if I let her join me. What happenes then, huh? I can't just take her with me.' _Naruto felt a rapid vibration in the back of his head, like the buzzing of a thousand beetles in his ears. It irritated his highly sensitive sense of hearing.

**I do know, let her live." **With a huff Naruto conceded defeat, Kyuubi made a little sense. He would just have let her tag along for now. He reached out to pull her in, but retreated back in case of the scenario that Larxene was playing possum. After a momentary paused he grabbed her arm and drew her limp body in closer to him; hoisting in a bridal style embrace.

_'I still don't see why I shouldn't just kill her, at least tell me. I know that I can use her to get info on the Saiki but.." He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "..she look as if she knows a whole lot, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten herself disbanded from the organization.' _Kyuubi sighed with a deep demonic voice. He explained to Naruto the various reasons that she could be useful, some of which made Naruto's cheeks flush with a hot red hue. The end result was the sight of Naruto's face in a concentrated expression, cold sweat laced his forehead and vein, that imitated the appearance of a river, stuck out on his forehead.

_'Well those are good reasons as well, some better than others. But still I not to sure.'_

**"Trust me Naruto-kun, it will work out, and this gives you a reason to be away from your team." **After some thought Naruto came to an unexpected conclusion; he would take her back with him, back to Konoha. After he giving it much thought, he knew that it was a logical choice and a the moment he had settled to looking at her, with a confused gaze.

She was breathing but her chest was shaky and fluttered, by Naruto's observation her condition was stable. "Why do I always end up with a burden that I can't just toss away?" He said to himself shaking his head. It was after a few seconds when his vision faltered, inducing onto him a stark dizziness. It made him feel as if he had just been caught in the path of a tornado. "My head, damn, it must be this realm, it's not natural..." His sense of elevation left him and a new feeling overwhelmed his body, he felt heavy. No longer did Naruto have a feeling of weightlessness but rather a feeling of gravity.

He noticed that he was standing, on sand and judging by the hot walls of sand that surrounded him, he was in a hole. He looked down, witnessing Larxene's impassive expression, her face was dirtied by the dust that floated in the air like steam. _'What now?' _He asked Kyuubi. _'How am I going to explain this to everyone?' _Naruto placed Larxene on top pf the soft sand and examined her body.

"She's really fucked up." He said.

**"Naruto Let me help her." **Naruto nodded. Kyuubi instructed him to placed his hand on her, at first Naruto thought of it as Kyuubi trying to get him to 'touch' her but he was wrong. As he did as he did so his arm was engulfed by a warm sensation, red chakra seeped through his skin and into hers . Soon the demonic chakra covered both of them, and he could heal both of their bodies healing at a rapid rate.

_'What is this Kyuubi?_' His eyes were now closed taking in the radiant and warm feeling of his inner demon. He felt his wounds closing up; flesh repairing himself, and briuised skin returning to its original luster. He could feel through Kyuubi's chakra, that Larxene's wounds were healing as well. His finger jerked, twitching from the utter delight that came with healing via Kyuubi's chakra.

**"My chakra, I have extended it so that our supernatural healing ability will not only heal you but this girl as well. Listen place your finger tip onto on of her open wounds**.**"**Naruto did as instructed and placed his finger on one off the still exposed area's of flesh. It began to glow, and like a jolt of electricity a red spark of chakra ran down his finger and into her body.

_'What was that?' _

**"An extra precaution, to insure that while she accompanies us, Larxene here won't try to strike you down."**

"Wow, that's ingenious." Kyuubi explained how his chakra would give Larxene a painful jolt if she would ever try to kill him, the action of the chakra was controlled by Kyuubi and the end result of being shocked by demon chakra would be painful. Ingenious indeed.

The red chakra dissipated and Larxene eye trembled and she began to stir. Naruto quickly cut off his mental link with Kyuubi before she was fully conscious. Her eyelids slowly cracked open and she moaned from the dull pain in her head, and she let out an exasperated sigh from lips.

She wore an impassive expression on her face, she looked calm and at peace. "My wounds, their gone, did you do it?" Naruto pressed his lips against each other making a rigid line with them. He cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, you could say it was me." He leaned back and went into a crossed legged lotus position. "No need to thank me, all I need to do is tell me what I need to know."

She cast her impassive gaze toward the sky; Naruto wondered how she could be so emotional at times then go back to holding the enigmatic facial expression that she held at that very moment. "I wasn't going to thank you" She said. "Why did you heal me, I'm your enemy? You should have killed me when you had the chance." Larxene shifted in the sand. "What's your reason for keeping me alive?"

"Simple, I want you to join me." Her eyes widened and she swallowed as if she was choking on something.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you have nowhere else to go besides this place, and I think you would be a valuable asser to have around." Her lips pressed against each other in a sour scowl.

"No, I won't go anywhere. It's your fault I'm here in the first place, if it wasn't for you I would still be in the Saiki!" Her voice had risen and her tone was fragile and unguarded.

"But here's the big picture, you're not anymore and I'm giving you a chance to start over, become a nin of Konoha and live a better life. I know your brother would want it for you." Larxene let out a sharp gasp, she slowly moved head in order to look at Naruto.

"My brother, how do you know him? Tell me and don't you dare lie to me!"

"You're in no position to make any demands." Naruto figured he could use this to his advantage, it would aid in convincing her to join. He explained to Larxene almost everything that occurred after he first defeated her, well everything that dealt with the Saiki. He told her of the fight with Marlucia, his defeat and how Lark saved him. He also told her what Lark said to him, how he told Naruto to protect her. The whole time she wore a delicate expression on her face; Naruto looked at her, her face a visage of various emotions. Anger, contempt, and maybe even hope. Hard lines creased her forehead.

Then she said: " What if I say no, what happens then." Naruto produced a deep sigh from his chest. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Then you will never be able to live your life alone in peace. As long as you are alive and have some connection to the Saiki you won't be able to stop moving."

"They think that I'm dead so it wouldn't make a difference."

"Your brother didn't think you were dead. What makes you think that anybody else did?" Her expression grew pensive as she lay there with her mouth open in deep thought. Larxene was quiet for a moment; this was something she hadn't expected. What she expected was an all out battle to the death with Naruto. Instead she got an invitation back to Konoha.

She didn't really know what to do, a part of her wanted to say no, that much she knew. But on the other hand after hearing that her brother personally requested for him to protect her, surprisingly, a part of her wanted to go with him. She knew what the right choice was, she knew what she had to do.

"Now, will you join me?" He extended his hand out to her. Larxene looked at it for a while. _SAY YES ALREADY! _

She took his hand and they both helped each other up. After a short little gasp Larxene replied: "No." Naruto's eyebrow lifted and his upper lip was raised in a tilted state of shock.

'No, what do you mean no?" Larxene use Naruto to pull herself up.

"If what you say is true, that my brother requested for me to stay with you have to prove yourself to me" She lifted a finger at Naruto, waving it back and forth. "If I can be of some use to you then you should be of some use to me. So prove to me why I should come with you then, and only then, will I go back with you and your team to Konoha." Naruto growled, a single vein bulged on his head, pulsating in sync with his own heartbeat.

The dry air made him repeatedly lick his lips. He gazed at the black sky, the stars painted it like hundreds of tiny little bugs on a wide open field of air. After a deep sigh he bowed his head down. "Fine, have it your way, I'll prove to it to you." The waves crashing on the shore caused thin mist to hit both Larxene and Naruto while the were in the hole. It was an indicator that the tide was coming in.

"Looks like it is high tide" Larxene said.

"Then let's leave."

"Whatever; but how are we going to explain this." She pointed to their tattered clothing. They simply looked a mess. Horrible. Naruto scratched his head and squinted his eyes, He cleared his throat.

"Uhhhh-...... I got it!" He snapped his fingers. "We'll just sneak in. It should be easy, agreed." She confired his asumption by nodding.

"Then let's go." With that they both jumped out of the hole; Naruto used his Geostigma to mend the ravage sand to its original state. After that they left in a burst of speed, heading back to Tazuna's home, both of them hoping that Naruto's plan would work.

--

Finally I'm done; so sorry about the insane wait. Actually I don't know why I didn't get it out faster, I just didn't have the time to write Like I did in the summer when I first started this story. So any way It's complete, the turning point of the story. Will Larxene Join and go to Konoha or will she decline or remain loyal to the Saiki, who knows. Only time will tell.

Anyway the next chapter is going to be good, I won't say anything about it you'll just have to wait for it. Hopefully it won't be as long as a wait as this one was.

**Shoutouts:** Top five

1. Moonlight-village-anbu

2. THE HEE-HO KING

3. Chronostorm

4. GraityTheWizard

5. Lord Grond

These are my five favorite reveiwers, if you want you can check out their profiles, it might lead you onto something good. No seriously, do it i want you to search them up and find them, give them some good feedback.

Any

Read and Review

Next chapter: Bond

Grim's stepping out.


	8. Bond

Yeaaah boiiiii!

Okay the eighth volume of the rising is here. Now, I'll tell you a little something of what I'm planning....No I'm just playing I ain't telling you guys nothing, you'll just have to read for yourselves and find out. But I will tell you guys that this chapter's going to be a little different, there probably won't be that much action, just a fun little chapter. And based on the title of the chapter I'm hoping that you guys will be able to figure what this is about. Maybe the little change that Zabuza will go through might help you figure it out.

Also about Naruto's new weapons, the spitfire gauntlets, I would just like to point out that I do indeed think that they are very bad ass.

I would also like to say that, uh let's see... i don't no how to put this, but....REVIEW. I need reviews, I'm looking to get at least over 20 reviews for this chapter. Please, review this chapter and if you do I'll put you on the top five reviewer list, it doesn't sound like much but it might help a person who is struggling and needs some reviews for their story.

On with the story

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

They laugh, they play, they explain.

Naruto woke up the next morning with sore limbs, his muscles felt like they were on fire, and he had a terrible headache. He sighed and yawned, blinking a few more times so that he wiped the weariness from his eyes. He hadn't remembered even coming back to Tazuna's house the night before. All he remembered was the fight with Larxene, the trip to the shadow realm, after that everything went blank.

Needless to say he remembered the majority of the night, however he hadn't planned on how he was going to explain his outrageously long absence to Kakashi, not that he needed to anyway. He sat in a reclined position, so that he rested on his elbows, looking left an right he noticed that his room was considerably dim.

"Nice room." He said and attempted to get up, but he froze when he heard a moan that was particularly feminine. Slowly Naruto moved his head toward the source of the sound. '_Please don't be Sakura.' _He thought. His eyes went wide.

There, right next to him was Larxene in her sleeping form, clinging to his arm like an infant would its mother. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself when he thought of what they did to lead them to this situation. He leaned in closer and brought his lips to her ear.

"Larxene, wake up." He whispered it in a soft tone, just loud enough to wake her out of her slumber. She let out another moan, and let go of his arm, turning so that her back now faced him. "Hey don't just ignore m-" Naruto stopped talking and his eyelids drooped down. He noticed that Larxene's back was bare, a clear indicator that she had no shirt on, she probably didn't have any underwear on a well.

"Stop talking I'm trying to sleep." Her voice contained a morning rasp, not her normal tone. Naruto waited for a few seconds, giving him and her a few moments of awkward silence to stay in.

_'Okay, she's in my bed.' _Larxene twitched a little bit, moving her head like bird.

"WHAT are you doing in my bed!" yelled out the words so that she would promptly be awakened. Hell, judging by the sound of his yell everyone was awake now. Larxene jumped up and out of the bed, exposing her half naked body to Naruto.

"Wha-..."

"You fucking idiot, this is my bed!" She looked down and blushed. "Don't look at me you perv, and don't you yell at me, I said I would let you sleep in this room as a favor to Tsunami-san!"

"What?"

Both of them turned their heads when the door clicked open, causing them to both fall silent. Tsunami poked her head in to view, with a warm smile.

"Are you guys alright, I heard-" She stopped, her jaw dropped, and her eyes were as wide a saucers. It was like the worse time for her to walk in on them, both of them half naked and in the same room. Surprisingly she didn't scream or yell, not so much as even a squeak as Naruto had anticipated at that very moment. She just lowered her gaze toward the floor in an apologetic bow. "My apologies, you...I didn't know that you were _those k_ind of friends, sorry fr interrupting, whatever it is that...you are doing. She slowly backed away, about to close the door.

"Wait, why are we in the same room?" Tsunami blinked rapidly, her eyes showing her confusion.

"Huh, don't you remember? You and Lar-chan came back into the house, late." She brought her finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "If I remember correctly your clothes were all tattered and dirty, I told that you would have to share a room with one of your teammates but Lar-chan here offered to share a room with you. She said that because you guys were such good friends you wouldn't be uncomfortable sleeping in the same room together."

"Uh, Tsunami-san could you stop calling me Lar-chan?" She said with a polite smile.

"Oh but It's such a cute nickname, I like it." Naruto brought his finger to his chin and rested his elbow on his other palm. Digging back into his memory, he did recall something of that sort occurring the night before. He shrugged the matter off, even though it put him in a freaking weird situation like this it still kept Tsunami thinking that he and Larxene were just 'friends'.

The door nudged forward a bit, Naruto noticed it and with a flash of orange in his eyes and a swift sweep of his hand, caused the door to swing open, Out came, or rather in came Sakura, Tazuna, Kakashi and even Sasuke, who all fell into the room making a pathetic dog pile in the center, near the bed. Tsunami, laughed nervously.

"Oh, my ass, what happened to the door?" Kakashi said.

"Can you stop touching me?" Sasuke.

"What are you talking about Sasuke-kun" definitely Sakura.

"Whoa, looks like these two were, gettin' busy!" Tazuna. He bellowed out perverted laughter as Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura cast a glance toward Naruto.

"Get out, now you eavesdroppers. I bet you were all leaning against the wall door, even you Tsunami-san!"

She backed away." W-Who...me, why would... no I." Her slurred words and inability to complete a sentence confirmed that she was one of the eavesdroppers as well. "I'll get some food ready for us all!" She said, quickly running out of the room, escaping Naruto's wrath.

"And the rest of you, get out!" They stood still not moving at all, not only until Naruto got up and walked over to a wall, placing his hand on it, he cocked back and punched the wall, causing it to crack from the ceiling to the floor. "Now!" He flashed on his geostigma to further enhance his command's effectiveness

Instantly everyone ran out of the room, even the Uchiha ran out like a giggling little school girl, slamming the door behind him.

"And they're supposed to be ninja, how pathetic. Hey-" He turned to were Larxene was, quickly covering his eyes so that he wouldn't look at anything that was exposed to him and further anger her. "- how exactly did we get here?"

"It's exactly as Tsunami-san said, we tried to sneak in, but Tsunami was waiting for us....and at the time.." Larxene looked toward the ground , even though Naruto couldn't see it. "...I couldn't think of anything else that would get her to stop asking questions about why we came home so late so I said we were tired and wanted to get to sleep."

"So you tell her that, it would be okay for us to sleep in the same room?"

"It's not my fault, there weren't enough rooms and I wasn't going to share a room with that pink haired friend of yours."

"Whatever, what's done is done. We'll probably be leaving sometime today so make your mind on my offer, do want to come with me or not? Hurry and decide, but in the meantime where's your bathroom?"

"Down the hall."

"Thanks" Naruto turned before uncovering his hands from his eyes and left the room, but before he did so he turned around, earning him a blush from Larxene. "Choose quickly...Lar-chan." He said before turning the corner down the hall, laughing when he heard Larxene shout.

"Don't call me that you prick!"

(Down stairs)

After Naruto had finished his morning routine he walked downstairs to the kitchen, which was the first thing you saw when you came down. The sounds of food cooking, and meat sizzling invaded his ears the moment he stepped downstairs. Tsunami stood by a stove, preparing what he thought of as breakfast. She noticed a presence approaching and cast a glance his way but quickly averted her vision back to her cooking when she saw the twitch in his eye.

He was now in a bad mood, that little incident upstairs now put him in a position where everyone in the house thought Naruto and Larxene were in a romantic relationship, which in reality was quite the opposite. Really, he didn't think of it as a bad thing, Larxene was pretty. Not that he had taking a liking to her or anything it was just something that he noticed. Despite that it would be rather annoying if his teammates were to constantly hassle him for reasons as to why him and Larxene were sharing a room, it didn't matter though if they did bother him they wouldn't find a thing out.

Naruto stopped walking and stood behind Tsunami. "Tsunami-san" She jumped at the sound of his voice, and slowly turned around to face him. Her eyes avoided his for she did not want to look, maybe it was the sight of his geostigma that made her feel uneasy.

"Y-Yes Uzumaki-san, can I help you?"

"Do you know where the rest of my team is?" She extended a long slender finger to her right, pointing at an open door frame leading to a different room.

"T-They're...in t-the living r-room. Do you wa-" But she stopped when she heard Naruto's footsteps fade away in the direction she was pointing. Relaxed that Naruto had left and freed from his overwhelming presence she sighed. She felt her head with her hand and released another sigh. "Boy I wonder how Lar-chan stays so calm around him, she's got her hands full with that one." She went back to her cooking, continuing her previous work.

When she heard Naruto's shouts of disapproval and his team's and Tazuna's apologetic pleas a smile graced her lips.

(Twenty minutes later)

The sounds of food being prepared had stopped and breakfast was prepared. They sat at a long rectangular wooden table. Naruto Sakura and Sasuke sat along the right edge of the table while Tsunami, Tazuna and Larxene sat on the other side, Larxene and Naruto being in the middle and directly parallel from each other.

Naruto sat with his eyes closed, his eyebrow raised in an annoyed fashion, Larxene sat in a position that was similar to his, it was obvious that the both of them were irritated and they're faces showed it. A lavish spread of food was placed in front of them, platters and dishes covering every corner of the table gleamed in brilliance.

"Dig in, this is for bringing back Tazuna safe and sound, eat to your heart's content." She bowed before happily getting a plate of food to herself. Sakura, Tazuna, Kakashi, did the same. Larxene and Naruto did the same as well but they did it in a way that told everyone not to mess with them.

It was when they were five minutes into eating that Tsunami asked Kakashi to follow her into another room, Naruto thought of it as just a private matter and shrugged it of as nothing and resumed eating. He picked at a few loose particles of rice when he felt something pressing against his side. It was Sasuke nudging him with his shoulder.

"Hey Naruto." He said, leaning in and covering his mouth with his right hand only to bring it to Naruto's ear. "Who's that girl, and what were you two doing upstairs?" Naruto's head quickly snapped to the side and he aimed a glare at Sasuke who had a cartoonish grin similar to that of the Cheshire cat. His eyebrows bounced up and down in a steady rhythm and his eyelids drooped down until they were half closed.

"What did you say, you dick?" His eyes narrowed. "Don't ever mention that again, if you do I'll kill you." Naruto leaned away from Sasuke. Uchiha's rarely smiled, and when they did it was out of overconfidence or malice. To actually see an Uchiha smile in glee was something that could make even Naruto shudder.

"Fine I'll ask her then." Sasuke said in a low whisper, he turned his gaze to Larxene whose eyes went from her food to his face when glanced at her.

Sasuke opened his mouth to ask Larxene, but before he could utter a sound Naruto placed his hand over his mouth, causing nothing but mere mumbles from Sasuke's mouth. "I wouldn't ask that If I were you." Naruto said. "She's stronger than she looks so if you don't want a face full of pain I suggest you stop right here."

Sasuke growled and smacked Naruto's hand from his mouth. "What hell are you doing, you fucking dumbass! Don't ever touch my mouth like that again!"

"Hey you want to fight, because if you do I'm ready anytime you are and that might take a long time seeing as how you're so weak. It could take you weeks, maybe even months to get on my level." That remark invoked a corpulent amount of anger inside of Sasuke, it seemed that Naruto hit a weak spot. The young Uchiha spilled out his killing intent, trying to keep pace with Naruto's much darker KI.

"What is that supposed to be, because I know its not KI that's not even enough Killing intent to paralyze a fly!" Sasuke growled.

"Dobe!"

"Teme!"

"Calm down!" Larxene yelled causing both boys to turn their gazes onto her. Then Sasuke did something that he would regret, something he would regret for the rest of his life.

"Hey Blondie, shut up, don't protect you little boyfriend here!" Sasuke yelled and his words hung in the air for moment, like an echo slowly fading away. Naruto, turned his head toward Sasuke, his eyebrow twitched up and down. His grim expression made Sasuke contemplate on whether or not he should have apologized to Larxene.

Naruto got stood up and pushed his chair in, walking away he threw his hand back and said: "You're on your own. I suggest that you two get away from the table." He made a v-shaped arch with his fingers and pointed them at Sakura and Tazuna, who both got up and away from the table as Naruto had instructed.

"What did you just say to me, you fucking loser?" A vein popped on Sasuke's head and he narrowed his eyes.

"Loser, I'm an Uchiha-!"Sasuke's eyes widened as he was instantly slammed into a wall, Larxene holding him up with a firm grasp on his neck. "Let go-.. you b-" Larxene lunged with her hand and clamped down Sasuke's mouth.

"If you say what I think you were about to say, then you're going to be in a world of pain. Your children are going to feel it!" She gave a quick glance down at Sasuke's private lower region, she shook her head. "Not very impressive though, looks like you're not having any kids anyway, Mr. Vienna sausage."

Sasuke gasped, his face burning red, like a tomato, like a cherry, like- look his face was really fucking red. Sakura gasped, her face matching Sasuke's and in a moment of shock, she fainted. Tazuna attempted to wake her up by gently slapping her on the face.

Naruto raised his eyebrows, and scratched his chin. _'Wow, she could determine the size of Sasuke's manhood by just glancing down at his pants? I wonder whether or not she's inspected me. It wouldn't matter though; I know that I'm packing it big time.' _He smiled with pride and wiped his nose with his finger.

"I said let go...bitch!" Naruto cringed and smiled at the same time, Sasuke had said something that would scar him for a long time unless Naruto somehow intervened. He watched as Larxene cocked back, preparing to possibly break Sasuke's jaw. Honestly he could have stopped her at anytime but watching this was just too much fun, he got a kick out of Sasuke's morbid expression.

The young Uchiha showed fear in his eyes, he direct them at Naruto. "Naruto, get your crazy girlfriend of of me!"

"What, girlfriend? I'm NOT his girlfriend." She cocked back even further.

"Naruto!!" Sasuke yelled.

"Die!" Larxene shouted out.

"Okay fine, I'll help you out." Larxene's punch came fast and hard at Sasuke, he closed his eyes thinking that it was the end for him. To his surprise all he felt was a small blast of wind hit his face. He opened his eyes to see not only Larxene's fist inches away from his face but Naruto's hand as well, holding Larxene by the wrist.

He released his breath in a short burst and slid down the wall, hitting the floor with a loud thump.

"Now Now, don't get so upset, he doesn't know what he's saying. After all he's a stuck up Uchiha." He heard Sasuke grumble at that comment. "Hey do want me to help you or not?"Sasuke stayed quiet. "Now sit down and finish eating.

"Fine!" She began to walk back to the table then turned around."But if you ever call me that again I'll make sure that you won't live to see another day, got that!" Sasuke quickly nodded. "Good." She then went to the table and resumed eating, as did Naruto.

The instant the both of them sat down Kakashi and Tsunami walked in, this time there was someone else. A short boy who looked to be around eight years old. He wore a pale yellow t-shirt and khaki shorts, and he sprawling all over his head were unruly bunches of jet-black hair, much like Tsunami's.

Naruto looked over and saw that Kakashi's eye was wide; he scratched the back of his head bashfully.

"What happened here?" He looked to Naruto and Larxene, then over to Sasuke who was still on the wall with a red expression, and then finally to the back of the room where Tazuna was still trying to wake Sakura up. He sweat dropped and coughed. "Uh-.. Better yet don't explain a thing; I'd rather not know what happened."

"Wise choice." Naruto added, and then went back to his food. He stopped for a second and looked back at them and raised his eyebrow. With food still in his mouth he said: "Who's the kid?"

"OH, yes-" Tsunami chimed in. "-this is my son, Inari. I wanted to introduce him to you yesterday but he was already asleep." Naruto nodded.

"I thought that he looked familiar, he looks just like you." He leaned over to his left to get a better look at the boy who was hiding behind his mother and gave him friendly wave. The boy just stuck his tongue out. Naruto then sweat dropped.

_'Stupid little kid.' _He thought to himself. After a few second Kakashi decided to speak.

"Sasuke get up I need you to hear this I got something to say, but first will someone wake Sakura up, jeez." Naruto stood up and walked over to Sakura's unconscious form, leaned until his face near her ear and whispered: "Sakura."

Instantly the pink-haired girl sprang up, swinging her hands around and almost hitting Naruto. She looked around and blinked a couple of times.

"Oh, what do you know, I must have fainted." She stood up and walked back to the table after Naruto motioned for her to sit down. Every few seconds, however, Sakura would cast quick glances at Larxene.

"Alright... Listen up, we've officially completed our mission, guarding Tazuna and bringing him into wave was a success."

"We already knew that Kakashi-sensei." Naruto added with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Yes Naruto, I well aware of that, but more importantly what I wanted to say was that we're saying for little while longer."

"For what." Sasuke said. Kakashi nodded and raised a finger.

"In order to get rid of Gato, Tsunami-san has asked if we could stay here and rid the Nami no Kuni of that tyrant. It's because of him that Nami has suffered, their economy has fallen and so has the quality of living. Because of Gato the people have had to live in fear, never daring to speak out against him. It's a terrible thing, to live in fear. Therefore we must stop Gato and return this town to its original luster."

"There was one person that dared to speak out." Tsunami said, causing everybody to look her way. She wore a solemn expression, as did Tazuna and Inari. "He was my husband and Inari's father, his name was Kaiza. He tried to stop Gato's tyranny but in the end he only ended up sacrificing himself. Gato used him as an example, and cut off his arms, then hung his body in the middle of town as a warning to the rest of us." She gripped the cloth of the apron she still wore and tears flowed from her face and unto the floor. "I-..., every time I think about it, I can't-...." Kakashi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"It will be alright. I can assure you that Gato and his men will be out of this place in no time." But suddenly he was cut off by Inari, who began to sob and ran away crying, leaving a trail of tears in his wake. Tsunami apologized, bowed, and ran after her son also doing pretty much the same thing.

"I'll go see how she'd doing." Said Tazuna as he ran past Kakashi.

Kakashi turned back to his team. "Do you see? That is the type of damage that that man can do, he must be stopped. This isn't optional and you will be included in this mission."

Kakashi crossed his arms, and looked his team up and down. A face that was calm and steady, a face that was near to tears, and finally a face that was furious.

"Naruto are you-?" He was cut off when the boy slammed his fist on the table, breaking a hole straight through it. He snarled his teeth, and his face looked as if he was holding back the urge to yell.

"This is bullshit! Who does that bastard think he is? Cutting off a person's arms then, cruelly displaying him like some kind of-of museum exhibit. I'm not going to stand for this, Kakashi count me in on this! I'm not about to sit here while some asshole is going around slaughtering people!"

Naruto's chakra spiked and he filled the room with his own killing intent. The pressure from his Ki was literally breath taking! The room was as silent as death. Nearby little animals outside, such as birds and rats, began to fall over and die. Naruto's Ki was too much for them and caused them to have heart attacks, killing them almost instantly. Sakura and Sasuke suddenly found it hard to breath, their breath came in little gasps of air. Being in the same room as Naruto seemed to even have its affect on Larxene, whose breathing suddenly quickened.

The only person that seemed unaffected by the foul killing intent was Kakashi, even so, he was cringing a bit as well, although it was so small that an untrained eye could not see it. Kakashi looked at the boy with a sad expression. Out of all people, he knew the most that Naruto could relate to that type of treatment.

He knew that when Naruto was a child, the boy suffered many pains that were just as bad as what happened to Inari's father, probably even worse. The moment caused Kakashi to recall the many times he had seen Naruto being tortured as a child, the many times he had to step in and save him. Sometimes that even meant taking the lives of the villagers that were involved. He had seen Naruto go through many harsh times and now he wanted to release all of his pain onto Gato.

Kakashi felt proud of him, Naruto was stronger than he had ever given him credit for.

"Kakashi-" Naruto said, while suddenly standing up. "-Now, let's go now. I can't stand here and wait any longer, I have to do something!" He slammed his fist on the hard wood again; his breathing seeped out through his teeth. "Tell me where to go and I'll destroy every one of those bastards!"

"Naruto, what will that do? I don't even know where his hideout is. For now, until we know exactly where to go, stay put." Kakashi tried as much as he could to speak in a low tone, but even as much as the Jounin tried he too was becoming frustrated.

"It doesn't matter I'll go and look, anywhere and everywhere." He turned around and walked out the room, his sickening chakra leaving with him. Kakashi made to follow him but was stopped when Larxene stood up and motioned for him to stay where he was. With her fingers she made delicate little hand signs, very similar to the one Naruto had made on their way to Nami. Kakashi's eyes widened once he realized what she was doing, he nodded in surprise.

_'This girl knows how to use anbu hands seals, no wonder he likes her.' _Kakashi thought to himself.

She told him that she would be the one to go with him and he responded with an intricate set of seals that neither Sasuke nor Sakura could see directly.

_"Can you keep up with him?"_Kakashi asked her

_"Sure that won't be a problem; I'm faster than I look."_ She responded.

_"Good, he needs to cool off, watch him and make sure that he doesn't do anything reckless."_Larxene paused for a moment. Both Sakura and Sasuke raised their eyebrows, both of them wondering why the Cyclops and crazy blond chick were just standing their motionless.

_"I'm surprised you're letting me go without any hassle, aren't you worried?". _

_"Why would I be, I know you're both strong. What you think that I didn't see the way you two really left the house yesterday. Even with that type of speed I can see it all with my sharingan."_

_"Sharingan huh, fair enough." _With that final silent statement Larxene left the room in pursuit of Naruto.

He turned back to his two remaining students. "What are we going to do Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. He rubbed his temples and let loosed a wild sigh.

"For now you should stay put and relax. However later on today you'll have to go out on a side mission. Recon, you'll scope the town, find anyone who looks to be in association with Gato or his men and follow them. This is a mission that might require you to kill so be on your toes." He looked down to see Sakura shaking, her eyes did not gaze at him but they were aimed straight down at the floor.

"K-Kill, I.... don't-" Kakashi cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"When I said kill I meant kill only in the event that you are attacked. All that you need to do is stay hidden and find out where Gato actually is, alright?" He waited for her to answer; when she nodded he turned to Sasuke. "What about you, you're OK with this right?"

"Yeah-" Sasuke said with his eyes closed, "-but there's one thing I want to know." Kakashi lifted his eyebrow and slid his hands into his pockets.

"And what would that be?"

"Why aren't you coming with us."

"Because, I'm going to track him through Zabuza." He stopped and smiled at the confused faces his two students adorned on their faces. He waved them off. "Don't worry, all I'm doing is going back to the site where we fought yesterday and following his trail from there."

"But how?" They both said in unison, leaning in closer. Kakashi just eye smiled.

"I have my ways. More importantly, you two do know what you're supposed to do right?" They nodded. "Good, then I'll head out now, I want you two to leave in exactly two hours." Kakashi then bowed and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"How does he do that?" Sakura said.

"Who knows?" Answered Sasuke, but of course answering a question with another question did nothing.

--

(Zabuza's hideout)

Zabuza stood at the sill of his window, leaning over it and staring into the deep lake below. He let out a sigh, it came out gruff and exasperated. The cold air and mist floated all around the room, giving it a dank and eerie feel. Making a base right above a lake might have been a bad idea after all. He looked up toward the sky.

"Why is always cold in this fucking place? I can practically see my own breath!" Of course he knew the answer to that. He turned his head and looked back when he heard the door behind him click open, result in a loud squeak. He turned his head back to the sky, already knowing who it was.

"Do have any information on where he is?" Zabuza asked.

"He probably left already." Haku's voice suggested which was then accompanied by the creak of floor boards as she walked towards him.

"No, he didn't I know that he didn't."

"Zabuza-sama-" She was cut off when Zabuza suddenly spun around. She still had her mask on so he couldn't see her shocked expression. "Zabuza-sama I know this is out of desperation but-but maybe you should try calling him."

"I don't think it's that simple Haku-chan." He glanced over at his giant blade leaning against the wall, half of it being covered in a shadow and half of it reflecting what little light it had to work with. "But it wouldn't hurt to try."

Haku giggled and took off her mask, showing him her cheery expression. He smiled a little bit at her wide grin. Walking over back turning back to the window he gazed out into the distance, nothing but forest. He bashed his hand against the wall, his eyes bulged out, and veins slithered onto his head.

After a moment of silence a flower shaped mark appeared on his forehead, it had five petals, a cherry blossom. It began to glow a brilliant white, shining bright like the sun. It burned his head, permanently branding itself onto his forehead. He ground his teeth together to keep from screaming out in pain.

"Zabuza-sama, what's happening?" Haku asked. She made an attempt to come closer to him but stopped short when he whipped his hand around and spun his entire body with it.

"Stay back!" He said with one hand thrust forward. "Don't come any closer; I don't know what might happen!" Taking to mind his abstract warning, Haku backed up until she felt the hard wood of the wall press against her back. Her hand was over her mouth, holding tight with an iron grip. What she saw was terrifying; the Zabuza that stood in front of her now looked drastically different from the one that stood before her only moments ago.

His hair stood on end, all hard and spiky. His face was pale, and the shining flower on his forehead nearly blinded her. She looked away when he gazed at her with golden eyes. This Zabuza was different, not to mention the fact that his chakra had changed in nearly an instant. Going from calm to ferocious in mere seconds. The bandages on his mouth burned of in the process of Zabuza's "transformation", showing inside of his mouth a set of slightly sharpened teeth. Zabuza himself could feel the change hurting him for every few seconds he would attempt to suppress his wails. The entire process was painful nevertheless. It left Haku, in a daze and shocked beyond all comprehension.

"Is this what happens when you call a member of the Saiki?" Zabuza slumped on the ground, breathing on a hard a rhythmic beat. His chest rose and fell with every quick and intense breath.

"Yes..., I was told by that bastard, Marlucia that when I called for him, he would come, but something would happen. If I had...known that it would be this....extreme then I wouldn't have bothered."

Haku released a breath. "I'm sorry, I was the one who told you to do it, I apolog-"

"Don't. Anyway, on to phase two." He bent he head down and after a few seconds he thrust it back, like a wolf might have done when howling at the moon. He opened his mouth and shouted out Marlucia's name into the air. His voice echoed in the distance, and then slowly faded away.

Haku suddenly felt strange, she felt as she was being watched, Zabuza felt the exact same way. A bizarre pressure made its way into the room. They both knew that Marlucia was with, there but not there, only until he revealed himself.

"Marlucia." Zabuza said.

"You called Zabuza?" Responded a recognizably malevolent voice from a dark corner. Haku jumped at the sound but Zabuza neither moved nor spoke.

"Marlucia-sama?" Haku said afraid that she had guessed right. Her eyes went wide when a hooded figure stepped out of the ever-shadowed corner of Zabuza's room and into the small amount of light that passed though his open window, revealing a smiling man with long brown hair and brown eyes to match. Although his smile was disarming Haku knew that he was dangerous. Any man who could approach her or Zabuza without being detected until he said something had to be the real deal.

"Yep, that's me!" He turned his head to Zabuza's hulking form. His eyebrows raised and he slowly walked over to him. He whistled."Wow, it looks like you've already gone through the change. Listen before you ask any questions think of this as me giving you more power, okay?"

Zabuza nodded then he opened his mouth. "With this will I be able to exact my revenge and complete my mission?" Marlucia nodded with a bored expression. "Good" Said Zabuza who began to laugh. What the nuke-nin planned to do was gain power by creating a call contract with Marlucia and exacting his revenge on Kakashi, the after that came to his real goal: the assassination of the current Mizukage.

"Haku-chan, there's nothing else that I require of you for today. Go out, leave and enjoy yourself for today. I'm only doing this because I want to test my new ability out by myself."

"Yes Zabuza-sama." She bowed and in a flash of mist, disappeared.

--

Naruto hopped dangerously from tree to tree, going through the forest like a pinball. Sometimes he exerted so much force that the bark on the trees would break apart under his feet. Following closely behind Larxene sped along, matching his pace. With the speed of a bullet Naruto and Larxene flew through the dense growth of trees and greenery. They continued like that for fifteen minutes in silence until the sight of a large encampment came into view. They stopped, sitting in the trees just outside the borders of the encampment.

Naruto knelt on a thick branch next to Larxene; he turned his head to her. "Hey, are you sure that this the place?" He looked back when he saw her nodded in camp was busy, alive with activity. Men walking around carrying weapons of almost every shape and size. Meat was roasting on several spics throughout the camp and the smell of roasting pork wafted in the air.

"I'm certain" she said. "On my way to Nami I came upon this spot, and I...met some of Gato's men." Naruto quickly snapped his head at Larxene.

"What do you mean "met" his men."

"Nothing, more importantly if you want to find Gato this is where you can find info on him, his men are posted here. They're just low grade bandits so this should be easy...even for you." She stuck out her thumb and poked Naruto with it, but the instant she touched him he, surprisingly, melted away into mud.

"What the he-" She noticed a voice down below her, Naruto's voice. He was standing in the middle of the camp, doing the one thing that he could do to attract the most attention to himself: yelling. Larxene sighed, contemplating on whether or not she should go down there. She decided against it, however, she would much rather enjoy kicking back and enjoying the show.

"Are you men, the men under Gato's control?" Naruto said into the air, letting the question hang. "I said are you in any way associated to the man named Gato?" Naruto's voice was edged and his voice became gruff, He rubbed his temples, sighing. Alright I'll ask you this one more time, are you-...?"

"Yeah we are what it is to you?" said a voice coming from the crowd of men. Naruto looked for whoever it was that answered him and out stepped a tall man, around six-foot seven. He had a hard build and a shaved face, he was sweaty and he wore all black. His arm was gently holstered in a makeshift sling, confirming that his right arm was immobile. The last thing that Naruto recognized about him was the giant black fleshy bulge that protruded from his neck."Who are you?" He asked with an annoyed glance.

"That's not important, what is important though is whether or not you can tell me the whereabouts of your leader Gato." The brick house bandit just laughed and the other followers laughed with him, pointing fingers and knocking fist together.

"Hey kid, my name is Ganryu Shisen. I'm the leader of this-..." Naruto suddenly disappeared, flowing past the many men like water through a rock filled stream, and suddenly appeared in front of the one called Ganryu. He stepped back in surprise.

"Hey Ganryu, don't get your ass handed to you like you did by that blond girl a couple days ago."He turned around.

"Hey shut up!"

_'Blond girl, could that be-?' _Naruto looked over into the trees where Larxene was sitting. She waved while nodding her head. _'I guess that it was her who kicked this guy's ass.' _

"Look I'm not in the mood for games, you ingrate!" Seriously Naruto was pissed, he wasn't about to stop and have a full out brawl with a hundred or so bandits. He would just have to clear them out in the most effective way he could think of.

"Ingrate, fuck you!"

"Right back at you, bitch!" Naruto said before jumping up and plowing his forehead into Ganryu's nose, causing him to stumble backward. Instantly the rest of the men where on him, charging in.

"Fuck this; you're all going to die today!" He swung left and caught a bandit right in the face, immediately after his attack he jumped back, and slung out three kunai, which all hit their mark, embedding themselves into the necks of three random men. They dropped dead. "This could be a chance to try out something new." Naruto jumped up into the air, and with his geostigma he began to manipulate the air around him, moving his arms and guiding the wind, making it howl. He was hovering now.

"I have no time for this." He looked down, picking out who he would leave untouched by the jutsu he was about to perform. They were all about to die, except for one: Ganryu. He closed his eyes, forming his hands into a ram seal.

"Fuuton ninpou: Kamikaze Tatsumaki!" (Wind release ninja art: Tornado hair wind) Naruto sucked in a giant funnel of air, making his chest puff out like an inflated balloon. In one big release he blew all of the air out in the form of a tornado that started off small from his mouth and then multiplied in size as it approached the ground. The wind struck the ground with terrible force; it hit the huge mass of bandits and sent them flying. It uprooted trees, lifting them out of the dirt and hurling them into the air. Through the loud roar of the wind Naruto could hear the screams of bandits being lifted off their feet and flung to their death. He continued this onslaught for several minutes before he stopped and dropped to the ground in front of the only person alive on the field: Ganryu.

He walked up to him and grabbed him by the nape of his shirt. "Tell me where Gato is, now!" Naruto shouted. Ganryu stayed silent, grasped with fear. His eyes were wide and his teeth clattered.

"Not again, I can't believe that I've been beaten by a child twice now." Naruto shook him back and forth. "Look my camp, it's gone." Naruto looked around; the bandit encampment was in shambles. The cluster of tents that once filled the large space were no either blown away by Naruto's jutsu or stuck somewhere in one of the trees that hadn't been uprooted. It wasn't just the camp itself that had been destroyed there were numerous dead bodies lying around the field. Some had been flung into trees, some had been impaled by their own weapons, others jst couldn't stand the force of the wind and as a result their limbs were torn from their bodies. Blood stained the ground, but Naruto really didn't care. All he wanted was the information.

"I don't care you fucking idiot, you could have done it the easy way but you chose to do it the hard way! Not my fault, now tell me....where is Gato!"

"I'm not telling you anything, you really think that I'd sell Gato out, e'd kill me if I did that! So get the fuck out of here and what the fuck is up with your eyes they're fucking orange!" Naruto then put his hands around the man's neck, choking him furiously.

"Fine" Naruto said, but then he noticed something. His geostigma was activated, and with it he controlled the power of manipulation. He removed his hands from the man's neck and placed them on his temples. Applying pressure he pumped chakra into Ganryu's head, causing the gruff bandit's eyes to go wide.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Making you tell me, I just remembered it. It's called... lobe extraction. By pumping chakra into an opponent's brain, specifically into the temporal and parietal lobe which control memory and speech, I can make your brain find the information that pertains to Gato's location and make you tell it to me. Cool huh?" Naruto smiled

Ganryu's eyebrows furrowed. "You can't do this to me I-..."

"Shut up! No be quiet and let me work. Larxene come here." After a few seconds there was a small howl of wind and Larxene appeared next to him.

"What do you want?" She could see by Ganryu's intense reaction that he still remembered their last encounter. She waved to him, smiling in order to taunt him and then looked back to Naruto. "Now say what you want to say Namikaze."

"I wanted to show you this technique." Larxene huffed and laughed.

"What is that some type of way to impress me? How pathetic." Naruto snickered, causing Larxene to stop laughing.

"On the contrary, it is a warning. I'm wanted you to witness the unveiling of my newest bloodline technique, I learned it while going through a family scroll of mine, what's weird though was that the jutsu wasn't there before it just appeared on the scroll. I can finally get a chance to use this technique."

"What's that supposed to mean to me?"

"It's supposed to be a warning like I said, I still need information about the Saiki and rest assure that if you refuse to tell to me any information I will not hesitate to use this technique on you, not even you can stop it. It's another reason why the geostigma is so coveted."

"Whatever", she cocked her head to the side looking at Naruto from the corner of her eye. To her interest his finger tips began to glow a vibrant blue and Ganryu's eyes grew even wider.

"Beginning extraction. While I'm doing this you won't be able to speak so unless I will it, so you have no other choice but to comply. First question, are aware of Gato's last location?" Naruto pressed his hands against his head and to both Naruto and Larxene's surprise the bandit's lips began to move against his own will.

"Y-yes" , he replied.

"Good, now tell me where it is."

Again his lips moved, trembling from Naruto's force. "He's in the town's main market district, dead in the middle of Nami. In the tallest building, you can find, it's black."

"Is that All you want to tell me?" Ganryu's bit his lip, trying to resist Naruto's chakra.

"Yes, his men are on patrol on the north and south quadrants of the town, and everyday he stations nin from Kiri on the northwest and southeast corners of the town, as well as the main gate of Nami. So if you plan on going in and infiltrating his HQ I suggest you go in from the northeast corner of the town, trust me you find any trouble over there. That's where the least amount of soldiers are positioned."

"Wow", Naruto said "Gato's really prepared. Hey...which part of the town are we in right now?"

"Northeast." Naruto sweat dropped.

"I guess that's why it was so easy to kill you guys but, seeing as how there were hundreds of guys here, that means that there are ten time the amount of bandits at the other stations. Anyway thanks for your help but you're no longer needed." A malevolent grin appeared on Narutos' face right before he increased his grip on Ganryu's head and with a burst of chakra promptly crushed his head. The sound of Ganryu's gruesome decapitation sounded like a bunch of people crunching paper together, which brought a smile to Naruto's face.

He stood up, wiping his hands free of any leftover gore the still stained his skin. He looked out toward the horizon, it was still morning and the air was still chilly. In the distance the sun painted the bottom of the skyline a faint orange before it gradually lightened up to a bright blue.

Naruto glanced at Larxene, all it took was a small nod and she knew what he was saying. "Let's go" , he said." we're heading back to Tazuna's house.

"For what?" She replied, placing her hands on her voluptuous hips. "I thought you wanted to kill Gato."

"Yeah I do, but I'm back to get Kakashi, in case of the situation that a few more unexpected enemy nin show up... it'd be better to have some back up instead of rushing in alone."

"Alone? What do you mean, I'm here and I'm all the backup you need!"

"Who?" Larxene growled in anger. And lunged for Naruto but staggered forward when he disappeared before she could get a firm grasp on him. "Hey, come back here!", She yelled out before disappeared with the same amount of Naruto had once used.

(Tazuna's household)

"Sasuke I think we should get going now."

"Shut up, I already know that!" Sasuke and Sakura were just preparing to leave for their recon mission 'together'. One thing that Sasuke wasn't looking forward to, spending any fixed amount of time with Haruno Sakura was like going to hell... Well in Sasuke's eyes anyway. Both of them were all strapped up, ninja gear, they were about as strapped as two genin could get. This was about a couple ninja tools and some scrolls, but on genin standards they were definitely strapped!

"Let's go he said, as he was about to open the door, but stopped when he felt something collide with it on the other side, making a dull thud come from the door's old wood. "What the fuck?" He said as he opened the door in order to look at what it was that made the sound.

"What is it?" Sakura asked to her raven crush.

"It's a kunai", he paused, "with a note attached to it." Sasuke ripped the blade of the ninja tool from off of the door, looking closely over at the note. He narrowed his eyes whilst he read.

_Meet me at the center of the town, come prepared to fight. I found out where Gato is hiding. Don't alert anyone of your presence; appear as if you are regular citizens….. Oh and by the way this is Naruto._

Sasuke was left with one eyebrow up, a confused expression on his face. "What the fuck was that about?" He looked at Sakura and she shrugged. "Whatever, let's just go but first change, we're supposed to be in disguise."

--

Kakashi ran along a wet road that smelled of vegetation and water, if water even had a smell. Thick mist clouded his vision, which was weird because on his noticed that it was only foggy in that specific area.

"This is the spot, right Kakashi?" asked to a small ninja dog that now sat at his side. He waited for a response while he scratched his ear with his right foot, Kakashi had always wondered how dogs were able to do that. After a few seconds the small canine tilted his head upwards towards Kakashi.

"Well is this the spot?"

"Yes Pakkun, this is the exact spot where me and Zabuza battled. Now tell me, can you get a scent on him?" The dog walked around in circle, bringing his black snout to the ground. After a few sniffs he looked back up at Kakashi. He nodded. "Good", Kakashi said as he gently brushed Pakkun's head. For some reason Kakashi could never figure out why Pakkun could talk, he was just like any other ninja dog. But for some obscene reason Pakkun could talk, I guess he must have been like one fucking super intelligent mutt.

Using his extraordinary ability Pakkun said, "Follow me Kakashi, I've got a lead on Momochi's scent." With a inhuman turn of his head Pakkun darted of into the mist with Kakashi following right behind.

They traveled along the road, trying to attract as much attention to themselves as possible. They traveled in silence, no conversation, nothing was discussed. It continued on like that for twenty minutes until Pakkun and Kakashi came upon the edge of a large lake. It was at least a mile wide, and judging by its shape the lake was not only wide but deep as well. Various types of plants grew along the lake's edge, going all the way around and creating a makeshift border of vegetation on the lake.

Kakashi angled and eyebrow. "Big lake-" He looked down to Pakkun, "-You sure this is the place." Again Pakkun gave him another one of those animalistic nods and again did Kakashi take to patting his ninja dog on the head.

"You know I don't like that right Kakashi?" The dog said in its overly masculine voice.

......"Nooo, you never told me." Kakashi replied "He again patted Pakkun on the head but stopped when the small dog began to growl. "Jeez don't be such a bitch about it."

"Hey I take offense to that, my mother was a bitch!"

"Sorry, you know what I mean."

"Whatever... so any way-" He sniffed the air in an upward motion "-judging by the face that the trail ends here, I can say without a doubt that Zabuza resides somewhere along the surface of this lake." He stopped for a moment to scratch his ear again. "I'm definitely positive that Zabuza is here, from here on in it's up to find it. Unfortunately all I can smell is the scent of water ad cattails...so I'm of no help here."

Kakashi peered out into the foggy distance, nothing; the mist covered the air like a soft white blanket of water vapor. Much to Kakashi's surprise he began to see something; the silhouette of a large tree faded into view, quickly staining the thick fog's snow-white appearance. It looked more like a tree house, only because of the numerous rooms and floors built along the branches of the tree, and judging by their intricate and complex designs Kakashi figured that it was more like a tree mansion!

"That's one big ass tree!" Kakashi said stupefied He took a step onto the lake, walking atop the water's surface. Now all he needed to do was find Zabuza and get some information on where Gato was. And maybe in the process he could give Zabuza a proper ass-kicking.

He took a few more steps, his feet making miniature waves that went out into the distance only to fade away. Suddenly Kakashi felt something, like a deep overwhelming and malevolent presence. It was unlike anything Kakashi had ever felt before in his life.

"What the hell is that Ki. Its' so...so evil. This can't be anything human!" Acting on instinct Kakashi took out a kunai and slipped his hita-ate above his left eye, revealing his constantly active sharingan. Already in his taijutsu stance Kakashi cringed as he heard the sound of a familiar person's laughter. His eyes went wide with disbelief."No way...this killing intent, it can't possibly belong to-.." Kakashi's head twitched as he was cut off by the sound of that familiar voice.

"Right you are Hatake, it's me. I've come back to exact my revenge on you for beating me in our last fight. You should have killed me when you had the chance instead of letting that fake tracker nin come and save me."

Kakashi's eyes went even wider, and a feeling of frustration crept over him. He couldn't believe that he had missed that, he should have known that that female tracker nin's sudden appearance was way too convenient. Honestly he didn't know why he had let Zabuza get taken away, maybe something in his mind told that if he wanted a really good fight then letting Zabuza live was the only way he would attain that goal.

"If that was not a tracker nin then who the hell is that person, and who is _she_to you?" Zabuza's voice chuckled, rocks scraping together.

"I'm surprised that you found out that Haku-chan is really a girl. You must be more perceptive than I thought. Most people never find out, but it really does not matter about them because they're are all dead." It the hit Kakashi, he wasn't the one who figured out Haku's gender, it was Naruto. It must have been old age...yeah that was it, he was getting old.

"I'm not here for games, I'm here for information, and you know what I want to know. Where is Gato?" Again Zabuza chuckled, bring a short tingling sensation to Kakashi's skin.

"Oh that old fart, I'm not associated with him anymore, he got too out of hand so I sent him for a little...swim. I still know where his HQ id but I'm still not going to tell you."

"And why not."It took a while for Zabuza to answer back.

..."Because Kakashi...I don't think that you really came here for information-.." Zabuza's voice faded off, and Kakashi was suddenly aware of a very strong presence coming from behind him. "-I think that you here to settle the score!" Zabuza yelled out as he ran his giant blade through Kakashi's robs, splitting him in half. The maniac smile that controlled his face faded when he saw Kakashi's shredded body erupt in a small shower of water.

"Mizu Bunshin, as I expected you came here ready to fight. Well maybe if you beat me I'll tell you where Gato really is." Zabuza felt cold steel slid against his throat and a smile crept along his face.

"You're right-" Kakashi's voice said from behind him "-I did come here ready to fight, in fact my whole reason for coming here was so that I could fight and still intend to do that. But first answer me this, just what the fuck did you do to yourself?" Kakashi looked at Zabuza's new form, a hulking pale mass of muscle, chakra and Killing intent. He could not even begin to imagine what Zabuza had gone through to attain his new body. First of all, Zabuza had grown, he wasn't the same as he was before. His eye muscles were twice as big, his skin had lost almost all of its pigment, skin as pale a paper.

The Zabuza standing in front of him had sharpened teeth, sharpened nails, bigger muscles,. His eyes.....golden. Zabuza's twenty-four karrot color golden eyes shined almost as bright as the five-petal cherry blossom imprinted on his head. Those too were shining bright.

It was a simple transformation, in reality all Zabuza had done was get a bigger body and turned his chakra into something that was outrageously evil. But come to think of it, the task in itself was certainly not simple.

"Well care to explain this?" Kakashi asked, cool as ice. Zabuza snickered.

"No, not really Kakashi!" Zabuza yelled out before whipping around and striking Kakashi in the side with a crushing front roundhouse; the force of the blow was enough to send Kakashi flying outward toward the deeper part of the lake. He landed on his feet, hitting the water as if it was solid earth.

_'Damn what kind of power does Zabuza have? That kick had way too much power in it!' _Kakashi thought to himself, then going to the spot where Zabuza had kicked him. He cringed when he came in contact with a few broken ribs. _'Not good, this definetely isn't good.' _He thought to himself, before he heard the sound of gushing water.

Kakashi barely had time to react when he saw a huge dragon made of water coming straight at him. He jumped out of the way only to be met by Zabuza in the air.

Take this"; Zabuza followed his statement by ramming his fist into Kakashi's back sending him back toward the water which he recovered from by flipping back and landing on his feet.

"Damn you, trying to keep me on my toes eh?" Kakashi was forced go on the defensive when, yet again, Zabuza appeared in front of him, slashing away with his huge sword like a mad man. "Fuck this!" Kakashi said as he ducked the blade of Zabuza's weapon, then spun around hitting the pumped up nin with kick to the gut, making him stumble backward.

The demon of the mist then began to make hand signs. Kakashi decided that it was time to utilize the power of his sharingan and began to copy Zabuza, seal for seal.

"That's not working Kakashi!" Zabuza yelled out before veering off to the side and extending a rapid barrage of taijutsu at the cyclops Jounin. The only thing Kakashi could do was thoroughly dodge the oncoming attacks that struck like bullets.

"That won't work on me twice, I fell for your sharingan's trick once, but I won't fall for it twice!" Within his blanket of punches Zabuza drew his blade and made a vertical swipe at Kakashi which he dodged by jumping back and performing a multitude of back flips until he was at least twenty feet away.

"Kakashi, this is my revenge!" Zabuza stuck his hand out, holding his fingers stiff like stone. His pale hand began to glow, lighting up to a bright white glow. It made a distinct sound, like the distinct ping of a tuning fork when it was hit by something. From Zabuza's hand grew a ball made of what looked like.....solid energy! It formed slowly, at first it's form was lumpy like rotten milk, then it properly stabilized itself. Zabuza now held a perfect sphere of white energy and judging by the waves of heat coming of it, the sphere was hot....really hot. He chuckled, baring his new razor-sharp teeth.

Realizing what was about to happen Kakashi stepped back. The hairs on his neck stood on end preparing for Zabuza's attack. Silent was the battle field and only until after a couple of seconds did Kakashi break the silence.

"I'll get serious now!" Kakashi followed up by making an intricate set of hand seals ending with a tiger seal. "Katon: Kasumi enbu no jutsu! (Fire release: mist waltz technique) Kakashi for a brief second pulled down his mask, showing the rest of his face and out of his mouth came ash colored mist. He continued to blow out the mist until it pretty much covered the entire lake's surface in a light brown blanket that floated in the air with a ghost like quality. The mist even obscured Zabuza from view, though Kakashi could not see him he could still feel the nuke-nin's potent chakra.

Slipping his mask back on, kakashi let out a short chuckle. "Zabuza" He yelled out, "I'm warning you not to fire that thing. This mist is highly combustible, and jugding by that thing in your hand, you firing at me would cause my mist to ignite. If you fire we both die so I suggest that you do what I say." Zabuza just looked at him with eyes shining brilliantly like actual gold, vibrant with the luster of his own power. Magnificent yet malevolent. Confused as to what gave Zabuza his power Kakashi's eyes made their way onto Zabuza's forehead.

_'That mark, what is that?' _He thought to himself. There was something about that mark that made Kakashi feel a bit uneasy. That mark wasn't something that Zabuza just so happened to come across, despite the fact that he was a jounin and a missing nin, it still didn't mean anything. Even at his level he wouldn't come across something so powerful. Someone around the likes of Orochimaru would possess such an otherwordly seal. That was when it him, at that moment Kakashi realized that the seal that Momochi Zabuza had branded onto his forehead wasn't something he just so convienetly had come across, it was something that was given to him! But by who, who had the power to give Zabuza such a poweful advantage.

"Feelling a bit uneasy aren't we Kakashi? I can understand I would be scared If I was in your position right now." His voice grew in voulme and the sound of feet splashing against the water invaded the air. The potent chakra that Kakashi felt earlier was gone, much to his relief Zabuza had dispatched his attack. If your going to play that way then-...." His voice disappeared and instantly Kakashi was aware that Zabuza had appeared behind him. "-..I guess that I will have to kill you with my bare hands!"

"Not a chance!" Kakashi siad before ducking a viscious swipe from Zabuza's blade. He kicked him away and took out a kunai with an explosive tag. "it's obvious that I can't beat you in your current state....so" Kakashi's voice trailed off and he tossed the kunai into the air.

"What the fuck?" Zabuza said as he looked at the kunai falling for Kakashi's distraction. When he looked down Kakashi was gone, leaving him alone with nothing but a loud sound that hissed like a snake. When it came to him that the sound was an explosive note burning it was to late, ...the kunai exploded, igniting every last particle of combustible mist that floated in the air.

BOOM.

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Yes finally done with this chapter. Tell me how you guys like it in a review of course. You know in this chapter I actually planned on making it a nice little relaxation chap for Naruto and co. No action or anything. But for some reason I was just hit by this idea, I was like hey why don't I split the team up in this chap. That way 'll give me a wider array of things that I can do to the story. It was so random but at least ot turned out alright in my opinion anyway.

Oh yeah I've decided to do something very drastic.

Revised Harem results:

Larxene

Hinata

Fem Haku

Xion ( a new character that I thought of; you'll find out more of her later)

Yeah, I felt like Ino wasn't a good choice in the harem and I couldn't think of a way to fit anyone else in so blam..Xion is here.

**Shoutouts: **Top five

Sir Midnight The Darkslayer

Chronostorm

Lord Grond

RedRyder01

Dragon Man 180

--

These are my five favorite reviewers so if you want, and you should, check out their profiles for stories they may or may not have made.

Anyway read and review

Next chapter: Infiltrate

Grim's steppin' out.


	9. Infiltrate

Yeaaah boiiiii!

What's up, chapter nine of the rising is out and if you don't like it too bad! you're gonna see a whole lot more of this stuff and I don't care what you think. But I will care of what you think if your thoughts are in review format. lol

Anyway, back to the chapter preview. Team seven is officially split up, Zabuza has officially joined with Marlucia and perhaps the entire Saiki organization. This chapter is going to deal a little bit more to do with Haku, you know I'll show where Haku is after the Kakashi-Zabuza fight. But judging on how I'm feeling I might even let you find out where Haku was during the Kakashi-Zabuza fight. But trust me if I do I won't go that much into it, just a little five minute explanation or maybe I'll do it in a flashback. Who knows......I know that's who and so will you if you read this chapter right now. Oh and a little notice, in the chapter I will NOT introduce the new character Xion, she will be nowhere to be found,so scroll down and get to destroying your precious and youthful eyesight on your computer screen.

Disclaim--... whoa was I just about to write a disclaimer? Wow, haven't done that in a minute or two. No but seriously I don't own Naruto. (obvious)

On with the story

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

They invade, she worries, another is brought in

Haku could not believe what it was that she looking at, she stood at the edge of a damage lakeside. What was once her home was....gone, obliterated without her even knowing it. The site before her was too nerve-racking.

The chilling howl of ghastly wind sounded over the surface of what was once the lake. Rocks and boulders alike were strewn about, tossed by the impact of the blast. The air was now devoid of any mist, replaced by black smoke that floated anywhere and everywhere. And what was once water from a lake had turned to dirt from a lake, not a single trace of water left in the huge smoldering crater. All of it had either evaporated or had been carried off by the gale.

"Wha-What is this?" Said Haku from behind the guise of a hunter nin mask. Her home was gone, at that moment all she could do was stand and stare.

Fire danced about within the leaves of any nearby forest that surrounded her former home, all trees that dared step into the fire burned down. The sound of falling branches, all of them hitting the ground with loud echoing snaps and the fury of the blaze painted the sky overhead a pale orange.

"My home gone." The huge tree that once stood several stories high was now nothing more the burnt remains of a severed stump. The remains of the tree had piled up all around its blackened trunk. Bit and pieces of furniture laid about, and only a person with a sharp eye could tell that the site was once a home.

She tooka step forward, her leg making a fuzzy sound through the huge accumulations of ash the covered the ground. As if on cue a pale hand burst out of the ground, making Haku jump back with a girlie squeak. It latched on to her foot, and as much a she jostled and kicked it wouldn't let go. Finally after many seconds of being shock Zabuza's head popped out of an ash pile.

Much to her discomfort Zabuza had not turned to his original form; this one was too feral for her and if she were to be honest it actually scared her a bit. Nonetheless Zabuza was her only family and no matter how he looked she still considered him to be family. But his face was still disturbing.

She finally snapped out of her shock long enough to ask, "Zabuza-sama is that you." He stared at her with icy-cold eyes, a wolf's stare, and released his grip on her leg. Grunting while standing he replied to her in a gruff tone.

"Yeah it's me...I see you still haven't gotten used to my new form yet." He chuckled, a sound that Haku could never get used to. "And where have you been?" He asked suddenly parent like. Her harsh reaction of stumbling backward made him raise a suspicious eyebrow.

"Well? He said folding his now bulging arms. His piercing stare bore deep into her, going as far as the back of her head.

"I-...was..was...out"

"Hm, out and what is 'out' supposed to mean-" He flung his head back, cracking his neck in the process and making Haku cringe at the sound. "It doesn't really matter right now anyway, all I'm worried about is getting that bastard."

"What, who was that did this?"

"It's a little surprising but Hatake did this, he used a unique jutsu and turned it into a bomb...end result, no more tree house." He outstretched his hand, and like a snake did his huge halberd come striking out of the ash and into his hand, where he then attached it to the clip that served as his holster.

It took Haku a few moments to realize it but she noticed that Zabuza's body was covered in a multitude of bruises, sore, and cuts. When she addressed him on it he told her not to worry about it, that in time they would heal.

A series of loud ruffling noises sounded off in the distance of the burning forest, it sounded like the steps of many approaching men....they were coming fast. The footsteps grew louder, growing into a loud roar and then in a few seconds coming to a sudden halt.

"Well, what happened here. Looks like you had a little bit of trouble here, it's a shame though, this place is filthy!" Zabuza's ear literally twitched to the sound of that voice. He turned his head to see Gato standing on top of a steep hill, behind him standing a crowd of men. All of them looked like neither Haku nor Zabuza were expecting was Gato's appearance.

His was in only a single arm sling, nothing more. _'Hm, that's all that the fall did to him, not way he should have been seriously injured from a drop like that. Or maybe he just had some catch him before he fell.... who knows?' _He thought to himself.

"Hey....why aren't you dead?" Zabuza asked plain and simple. Instantly a vein popped on his head and from where he was standing Zabuza could have sworn he saw Gato's head increase in size before he yelled.

"I had one of my guy waiting outside catch me before I fell (looks like Zabuza was right)....wait no, that's not important. What is important though is my revenge! Now-" He extended a finger down the hill to Zabuza and Haku.. "-all of these ninja you see here are chuunin to jounin, and there's thirty of them so that's more than enough to kill you!"

Zabuza chuckled, "Oh really?"

"Yeah...really and I don't care about how much you've..... changed, you are still going to die today! Kill them!" On command every nin behind Gato spilled down the hill like running water and Gato was the rock that they were all afraid to touch so they went around.

"Haku, I don't want you to see this okay?" Haku nodded, knowing full well what was about to happen. She stepped back.

"Is there anything that you need, now that our home is destroyed where can I go?"

"I want you to meet me in the forest."

"Which part?"

"D-sector, got it." Haku nodded, she knelt down. He turned around placing his back against the wave of enemies that all ran at him, completely ignoring their cries of battle. Then he said: "Haku...take off your mask."

With wide eyes Haku slipped off the one thing that kept her identity a secret. Why he wanted her to take it off was a mystery. "Don't die, I'm sure that some of them will follow you." His face held an impassive expression.

Shakily she said:"H-Hai!", and disappeared in a swirl of mist. As Zabuza turned back to the enemy he smiled, eyes blazing, golden and smiled.

"Yeah, they're going die today."

--

(In the forest)

Naruto spit as he wiped the the blood off of his kunai. For some reason on there way back to the town they came across an unusually large amount of resistance. What was weird was that this part of the forest was supposed to be the one with the least resistance, they had come across at least a dozen or so enemies. If this was what little resistance meant with Gato then Naruto didn't think that he wanted what a full resistance was.

"Damn, that's-..." he counted the number off on his fingers, silently mouthing off the amount in his head. "- that's seven kills for me." He looked over at Larxene who had just finished dispatching an enemy of her own by snapping his neck, causing him to drop with a loud thud. "How about you?" he asked.

"Uh.... that's about my sixth kill....why?" Naruto shook his head.

"Nothing I just wanted to make sure that I was ahead of you in a kill count." This instantly enraged her, how Naruto could be so competitive was simply astounding, when in reality she was just as competitive as Naruto.

They were standing in a large clearing and all around them were the bodies of the thirteen men that they had just taken down. Some had their necks slit, others had their necks broken. Nonetheless they were all dead.

"Hey why do you think that we're getting so much resistance?" Naruto shrugged then slipped his kunai back into his pouch for later use that he knew would come soon.

"Beats me", he said, "The only reason that I can think of is that Gato was alerted and he's sending these guys to find us." He looked at the sun. It now gently rested above the horizon, by now it was noon. Judging by Naruto's internal clock and the suns' position. "Let's keep moving, we don't have any time to waste, I want to be there before my...teammates." He had purposely chosen the forest as his route to the center of town, it raise suspicion if they were to go bouncing straight through the center of the town at the speed of sound!

Both Larxene and Naruto were about to jump back into the trees when they heard a loud crash to their left. It sounded like...like an explosive note going off. _'That's suspicious'_, Naruto thought, _'If they were after us then why would an explosive note explode over there? Maybe these guys aren't even after us, maybe they're after someone else and we just helped that person out!' _Another explosion sounded in the trees. Naruto grabbed Larxene's arm, causing her to gasp from the complete randomness of his action.

"Larxene, come with me, whoever is fighting is completely serious and it sounds like they're getting closer as we speak." She nodded, her face a bright red and jumped into the trees with Naruto. "Let's see who shows up, we'll take this chance to sneak up on them." Again Larxene nodded.

There they sat in silence, perched in the high branches of a tree awaiting for their chance to strike. Seconds passed, then minutes and only then did they get a sight of anyone else other than themselves. An explosion occurred and when both Larxene and Naruto looked down from their high point in the treetops they saw someone. A girl, garbed in a blue and brown kimono-nin battle; hair that streamed past her back like soft silk. She flew past their field of vision for only a second, dazing both of them.

"Wow..she's fast." Larxene said, blinking rapidly as if to shake the shock out of her. Her eyes widened when she saw two other nin go past, not as fast the girl before but fast even still.

She hadn't moved an inch until Naruto literally shook her out of her daze uttering, "Follow them!" Both of them jumped of of the branches in pursuit of the three nin.

"I've seen that girl before, she attacked us a while back."

"What...then tell me who are we going after, the girl or the two nin?"

"The girl." Naruto said plan and simple. He then explained to Larxene about the battle against Zabuza and how it was that girl who had taken him away, claiming to be a tracker nin. He then told that the only reason that he wanted to go after the girl was because he wanted answers, he could tell that she was an accomplice of Zabuza from the start. Only because of the fact that he had seen her watching Zabuza and Kakashi fight and only when Zabuza was about to die did she step in. A weird action for a tracker nin, to just watch the fight and not do anything while their target was getting beat to a pulp.

The only conclusion that Naruto could think of was that she was one of Zabuza's accomplices.

Naruto finally finished explained the entire situation to Larxene when the girl stopped, in another clearing much like the one they were just in. The two nin stopped as well, taking out two kunai and preparing for battle. Judging by what Naruto and Larxene could see, the two nin were from Kirigakure no sato.

Naruto narrowed his eyes,_ 'I'll get you this time.'_ He said to himself.

--

Haku now stood in the middle of a large clearing, facing two enemy ninja from Kirigakure no Sato. It was funny, that was were she was from...she never thought that she would be hunted by her own people...again. She stood calm and unperturbed, silently facing the two men that now stood on front of her.

"Now, we don't want to make this any harder than it already is, so come with us okay?" Said one of the men with slicked back black hair. He motioned for her to come to him like she was a little two year old girl.

"Like I'd ever come to you." She slid out two slender senbon that gleamed in the light with the natural brilliance of a diamond. "It's a shame that these will have to be stained with so much blood." She looked down at her two needles like a mother would a child, then bringing her gaze to the black-haired nin she disappeared without a trace.

"What the....?" Said the black-haired nin's partner but when he looked to his left all he saw was his teammate of the floor with two senbon lodged through his throat. He then felt a hand grab his shoulder before he was thrown several feet into a tree.

"You still think that this doesn't need to be harder than it already is, I think your friend over there had the wrong idea." She slid out another set of senbon and quickly dispatched him in the same manner as she had done to the first Kiri-nin.

Looking at the sky she noticed that it was already past noon, she was in the "d-sector" of the forest as Zabuza had instructed and now she didn't know what to do. And for some reason she kept getting chased by all these ninja under Gato's control. "Whew, this is starting to get troublesome." She said as she sat down of the ground, resting her tired legs, stretching.

The distant sound of flapping past her ear and she turned to see a falcon just about to land on a tree branch. Smiling contently at the site she let of a lonely sigh. Grand and noble was the falcon, a predator of the skies free to live its life as it wished. It continuously moved its head from side to side in quick inhuman motions, it's sharp eyes soon locked onto her.

"At least the birds have nothing to fear, they at least have the right to be free." Then an idea lanced through her mind, extending her arm toward the falcon she called to it with a high pitched whistle that reverberated throughout the clearing until it faded away. Instantly the falcon clicked its head toward the sound, and with three mighty flaps it was airborne and perched onto Haku's arm.

Haku took to scratching it on its head. It was a hunter, it had long pointed wings that were bluish gray with black wingtips and a back of matching color. It had a white underbelly with thin clean bands of dark brown going vertically down to its underparts. The tail , long, narrow, and rounded at the rear was the same color as its back except for the two horizontal bands of brown streaking across. Its head was blue-gray that faded down to light white upon its neck. A notched beak and razor-sharp talons that were so close to slicing Haku's flesh if not for the sturdy material of her battle Kimono.

It was a peregrine, a fast, aerodynamic predator. Although in Haku's opinion this particular bird was pretty large, it must have been a female. The females were usually larger than the males, still it was big even for a female. For some reason Haku felt a foreign familiarity with this falcon, as if she could hear her thoughts and read the silent words inscribed inside of those large and intelligent eyes of hers.

"Wow, you really are a beauty aren't you?" The falcon just looked at her, not understanding a single word that she said. The constant movement of her head displayed how curious the bird was toward Haku. With an exasperated sigh Haku turned her head the other way.

"Aw, is this bitch that sad that she's talking to birds now?" Said a voice. Her eyes widened when she sensed the presence of three men twenty feet behind her. Quickly she stood up, facing the three nin.

"You bastards you followed me, I'll kill you all!"

"Ha! Are you sure about that, can you really take two chuunin and a jounin by yourself?" Haku's breath wavered a bit, the two chuunin were easy pickings, but the jounin, she knew she would have some trouble with. She glanced at the falcon and the falcon glanced back; Haku thrust the bird into the air, urging it to fly away. The bird flew but for some strange reason the bird decided not to leave, just to fly high above and circle the clearing. It seemed as if it was waiting for her.

_' Fine if you want to stay then stay, but don't squeal if you get caught in the crossfire.' _Haku thought to herself, then she assumed her battle position.

These three men were from Kiri, like the last two. Instead of normal ninja attire they all wore black body suits bandannas. They stood in a straight line until the one in the middle yelled out, "Get her!"

The two nin on his sides, who were obviously the chuunin, instantly sprang into action. Running at her like mad men. Haku was in the middle of performing hand seals when two people appeared in front of her with amazing speed. Both of them dressed in black and both of them with blond hair, a boy and girl, Naruto and Larxene.

Shocked by their speed Haku stumbled back. "W-Who the hell are you?" The blond boy looked back, blue eyes sparkling like sun-kissed ocean. He smiled, leaving Haku unable to stop her heart from skipping a beat.

"No..time to explain. Just fight, I'll take the jounin, you and her will take the two chuunin, alright?" Haku just slowly nodded not contemplating on whether or not she would trust the two or not. The blond girl then turned he head to Haku.

"Don't worry-", she said with a smile. "-He's a strong fighter. Oh and by the way, I'm Larxene...he's Naruto." She then lunged forward at her target, the Naruto did the same thing, dashing past the two chuunin and heading straight for the lone jounin.

"N-Naruto...."

Instantly her opponent was upon her. He drew his sword that he apparently kept well hidden and came at her with a vertical slash that she skillfully dodged with a swift sidestep followed by a spinning roundhouse kick to his face. He stumbled back and unleashed a barrage of lighting quick slashes, in order to dodge the attack Haku jumped back a couple of feet.

The Kiri nin charged in at her again. He spun and slashed at her head. A breath of wind tickled her neck as she narrowly dodged the attack by ducking backward (matrix style). She followed up by sliding onto her back and tripping the kiri-nin and whilst he was in mid-air kicked him, propelling him into the air a nice ten feet. Quickly she rolled back backward, regaining her balance and on her feet once again.

With amazing dexterity she slipped out three senbon and jammed them into the ground. There was nothing that the kiri nin could do at that moment, all Haku had to do was let gravity do its work and allow the ill-fated ninja to fall to his fate. And as expected the man fell straight onto the three senbon, landing directly onto his neck with a sickening crunch. The three needle-like weapons protruded out of the man's neck, slick with blood.

"Done." She wiped the sweat off of her forehead. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blond girl, Larxene knock her opponent to the ground, followed by a kunai to his head, promptly silencing him. That was two chuunin down, now all that was left was the one jounin who Naruto had pinned against a tree.

"Have mercy...please!" He pleaded as Naruto continued to walk slowly, that was all Haku could hear from afar. Her eyes widened when she saw Naruto's fingertips glow a bright blue, he grabbed hold of the jounin's head. She didn't know he was performing, all she knew was that she didn't anything like that happening to her. While Naruto had his hands on the man's head she could see that Naruto was talking to the man and surprisingly, he was responding with no resistance. It was like Naruto had control over him or something.

After a few minutes of watching him perform his weird technique from afar she contemplated on whether or not she should try to run. She decided against it however, Haku knew that it would be a bad idea to run from these two. The sound of a man's head getting crushed broke her out of her thoughts, she looked back at where Naruto was and she saw no other face. All she saw was the decapitated body of a ninja.

_'Did he just do that?' _Haku found it hard to believe that Naruto had just crushed some guy's head so easily. it was weird, it was brutal...to her it was...kind of hot.

"Now... you." Larxene and Naruto started to move toward her.

"Thanks for the help...but who are you two?" Haku asked as they both came to a stop right in front of her.

"That's not really the point here; the real question is... who exactly are you and who are you working with?" Naruto paused.

A moment of silence, the loud squeal of a falcon caused of three of them to look at the sky. The same falcon that was once perched on Haku's arms was flying down from it's mid-air stationary and landed right on Haku's left shoulder. It locked its gaze on to Naruto, and even under the peircing and watchful eye of a falcon he seemed unfazed.

"Seems like your little friend wants to join us, no matter. Like I was saying, who are you and who are you working with?" Haku raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you guys that?"

"You just did, I simply chose not to give you an answer."

"Then why should I give you an answer?" Naruto let out a deep sigh, placing his hands on his hips and looking into the sky.

Without out placing his head down he said: "Because.......", Larxene, the blond girl standing next to him suddenly disappeared. Flowing past her with outrageous speed and coming to a stop behind her. Haku could feel the tickle of kunai oh so close to her neck, so close that if she even so much as moved she would die. The falcon on he shoulder didn't seem to notice. Naruto then lowered his head. "-...Because I asked you, and I don't think you're in any position to say no right now." His expression was solemn and grim.

Feeling a bit under pressure Haku responded: "O-Okay fine, I'll tell you. My name is Haku, I'm a former ninja of Kiri, the hidden village closest to this town. Well...technically I'm not a ninja, since I was never enlisted into the Kiri archives as an actual shinobi of Kirigakure no sato."

Naruto crossed his arms. "And why is that you aren't an official shinobi, just asking?" He tapped his fingers against the fabric of his jacket.

"The bloodline massacre...."

"Bloodline massacre?" Larxene said.

Haku nodded, careful not to cut her neck on the sharp edge of the kunai. "Yes...it happened some years back, when I was a child. Kiri once was thriving with an abundance of clans that possessed Kekkei genkai. My family was one of them, however it last for long. The Mizukage, had ordered that every person with a kekkei genkai should be slaughtered. Having a bloodline limit was a sin, he sent teams of special shinobi in order to kill us all. It resulted in great turmoil within Kiri, chaos. Some of us who had this power chose to fight and defend themselves, others went into hiding. The Mizukage had started a widespread genocide in our village.

"I suppose that you were one of the people who went into hiding?" Naruto said, blushing, Haku nodded with another short movement of her head.

"Y-Yes... and no." Haku said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.... both eyebrows actually. Then he relaxed them turning his face into an expression of great interest. He motioned for Larxene to lower her kunai from Haku's throat to which the blond girl responded with a confused 'huh'. After a few seconds Larxene stepped away, taking back her position next to Naruto.

"Wait a second.." Naruto closed his eyes and reopened them. When he did, to Haku's great surprise, there was an orange ring around both pupils. The orange contrasted with the sapphire blue which were Naruto's original eye color. Haku leaned in, unable to gaze away from Naruto's perplexing stare. She found herself in utter delight while staring at him, it gave him an unknown appearance. They were exotic, they unique, they were alien.

Haku muttered out a barely audible sentence which sounded a bit to Larxene like "what is that?" It took her a few moments to notice what was going on and what she was doing and after what seemed like days staring into the eyes of this boy whom she had just met, she snapped out of her daze. Only snapping out of it when she heard the sound of Larxene snapping her fingers repeatedly in her face.

"Geez, you ok?" Larxene asked to which Haku nodded, too embarrassed from what had just happened to say anything. Larxene just shrugged, saying nothing.

"Um...what is that?" She asked.

"My kekkei genkai." Haku's eyes widened, what are the odds of her meeting someone else with a bloodline limit. Naruto stuck his hands out placing his palms out and his arms began to shake. The ground underneath them began to tremble. And with one rigid upward motion Naruto raised his hands, raising up from the ground three chairs made from yellow stone. They were plain but so intricately cut that it looked as if someone had sat down and carved them by hand. He motioned for them to sit and the did.

_'He can control earth and bend it to his will...interesting.' _Haku thought.

"Continue with your story." Naruto said. Haku gave a momentary glance at the sun... then her eyes widened. She knew that it was getting late and that Zabuza would be getting to her pretty soon, luckily for her Zabuza was the type to drag out a fight in order to gain some enjoyment from it.

"UH... anyway...like I was saying, some went into hiding and others didn't but, we did hide but not right away. When the actual genocide occured, I was not aware of my powers at the time, they had yet to mature. My mother did not use her kekkei genkai at all so I didn't even know that we had had a family bloodline limit; naturally our family was overlooked by the bloodline hunters...that is until my power had actually surfaced. My father had caught using my kekkei genkai in our garden, and even though I was his child he was in full agreement with the bloodline genocide and tried to kill me."

"What exactly is your bloodline?" Naruto interrupted.

""I can control ice to my will... unlike your kekkei genkai, my body doesn't go through any changes. So it was easier to hide. Anyway, my father confronted my mother about it and in doing that he found out that she had one as well and killed her. He tried to kill me, but..." her gaze lowered,"-but I didn't have control over my power and ended up killing him."

Haku sniffled as memories with of her father and mother's death assaulted her mind, stabbing through her being like a lance of sorrow.

"Alone and cold, I had nowhere to go."

"And that's how you found Zabuza...right?" Haku shook her head, no.

"It's quite the opposite, Zabuza found me. When he did I was basically on the verge of death, he told me to follow him if I didn't want to die. So I did and he taught how to be what I am today, He taught me to be a killer." Haku rested her head on her hands, waiting for a response.

A moment of silence. "You know you don't like that much of a killer...but I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover." Larxene said, while looking over to Naruto. "What do you think?"

"Well...I know that that story was true...something like that can't be made up. I'll believe what you just told me, furthermore I want to extend to you an offer."

"What type of offer?"

"Help us and you can come back to konoha back with us. I-"

"Whoa...us! I never said that I would come back with you, I haven't even made up my mind yet!" Larxene stated.

"Yes you did...because if you haven't made up your mind why are you still with me at this point?"

"Because I already told that you have to prove yourself....SO....Ha!" Larxene crossed her arms, turning her head away from Naruto. He just chuckled and turned back to Haku.

"Anyway like I was saying, seeing as how you are a rogue nin by affiliation with Momochi I guess I can go ahead and say that you're always on the run." She nodded. "Well you can end it." He waited for a response, eyebrows up but they lowered when she shook her head.

"Sorry...I'm afraid I can't, even though I'm always on the run it doesn't matter to me as long as I'm with Zabuza-sama. As long as I'm alive I won't leave his side, he's precious to me and I won't give that up."

Naruto sighed, honestly he didn't even know why he asked Haku to join him and Larxene. For some reason he felt like he had heard that story before, hunted because of something inside of you. Something you can help, hunted just because you're you. He had heard that story before, it was the story of his life, someone had gone through at least a fraction of his life, at least he wasn't alone.

Standing up he said: "Fine, I won't force you to come but just in case you change your mind I'm going to be here for at least another day or two. Tell me you final answer by then."

"Sure." Haku was now standing along with Larxene

"But I hope you know that you denied me and are still working with Zabuza, this still qualifies us as enemies."

"Well as an enemy...I guess I should tell you that Zabuza-sama's on his way here so you better leave or he'll kill you both." Naruto chuckled at that.

"You're okay...." He said; he pressed his hands onto the ground, making all three chairs sink into the ground. Sunset to his back shining on her face, the moment was surreal and as fast as they had come Naruto and Larxene were gone, in the blink of an eye leaving Haku in the thinning twilight, alone to await Zabuza's arrival.

---

"Tag five is set, over"

"Good, hold on.......there, tag six..set, over."

"Now what?"

"Meet me in front of the infiltration point, over."

"Are you sure that this is okay? Over."

"Yeah, but for now this is just a back up plan in case we come against too much opposition. It'll be a good diversion in order for us to escape. Now hurry up and get over there, over and out." Sasuke cut the connection between him and Sakura, creating a short burst of static in his ear. He tapped his wireless headset twice before slipping it off. He was currently on top of a building in the center of town and had just finished setting the final explosive tag out of six.

He had seen a couple of suspicious men waltz into a large black brick building about twenty minutes ago, what was even more suspicious was that this building was the tallest one in town. It towered over the rest of the town by at least thirty feet, and why would a bunch of bandit-like men just walk into an important looking building like that? To Sasuke it meant that they obviously had some sort of connection with Gato; he knew that he couldn't follow them in without Naruto or Kakashi so he decided that the best course of action was set up a couple of traps and diversions.

He now had six explosive tags stationed in secluded areas, all of them nearby the building where Gato was sure to be. Not including those, he had Sakura slip around a dozen tags all around the outer walls of the building. Just in case that they were desperate they could blow the whole thing up sky high. Apparently sakura was better at chakra control then he was and could already walk up walls so getting on to the side of the building unnoticed was no great task.

The fact that she was better at something than him was no great task greatly annoyed him, even so he knew the difference between them.

"Time to get going." He said before he jumped off the side of the building and into the shadowed ally next to it. He couldn't afford to be seen by civilians as he was now, so he knew that he had to disguise himself. There was a poof in the shadows and in a couple of seconds Sasuke did not step, instead out stepped a boy with silver hair, he looked to be about seven years old and wore the clothes of a commoner.

Sasuke in the form of the small boy then ran off into the crowd heading toward the black building, none of the civilians thought this as strange, for they saw small children running in the streets everyday.

As Sasuke ran, keeping up the guise of his child form he thought to himself. _'Where is she, where is she? I know where she is but let's just hope that Sakura is recognizable.'_

--

Sakura stood amidst a large number of people walking by. The object of her suspicion, right in front of her. There in her vision stood the largest building in town, big and black. (not what you think) She was now in the guise of a beautiful woman around her late twenties who had silver hair. She too was dressed like a commoner.

_'For town that's so poor there are sure a lot of people walking around... what are they even in a rush to get to?' _She thought to herself. She stood wondering when Sasuke would get to her, it actually quite annoying standing there in her current disguise. Because of her outward appearance she had to suffer the torment of being bothered by the many men stopped and tried to ask her name. (If only they knew what she really looked like!)

Even so it was still a pretty nice change to get so much male attention, this is what Sasuke must have felt like....maybe she should stop trying so hard and give him a little break.

Sakura had taken to resting her chin on her hand in wait for Sasuke when suddenly she felt something tug her clothing, a little bit to close to her backside.

With a quick whip around she turned around ready to deliver the vice grip on whoever it was that dared touch her butt.

"Uhh, oh... hello little guy how are you?" She tried to put on a smile for the small silver-haired boy whom she almost sent flying.

"Sakura don't beat around the bush, it's me."

"Huh....Sasuke?"

"Duh." He responded in a small high pitched voice that was that of a child's. "Now ... all we gotta do is wait for Naruto and Kakashi to get here." Sakura knelt down so that she was eye-level with him.

"What about that other girl?" Instantly Sasuke looked away, knowing that she was talking about Larxene.

"No...we don't have to wait for her." There at that moment Sasuke sounded exactly like a child who had just gotten spanked, he obviously hadn't gotten over his recent manhandling at the hands of Larxene. "No at all..."He said in a low voice.

The Sakura smiled. "Aww, you're still mad aren't you?"

"No."

"Yes you are." She suppressed a giggle and stared at Sasuke in his child form.

"What....." His eyes widened when Sakura suddenly lunged forward at him, screaming "Kawaii, oh you're so cute right now!" She continued to glomp Sasuke all over, pretty much annoying the shit out of him.

"AHH....GET OFF!"

---

Kakashi ran through the forest at full speed, his frantic breathing matched the maniac movement of his legs. It was an understatement to say that Kakashi was running fast. Making a ram seal while he moved he closed his eyes and activated a jutsu that allowed him to pinpoint any chakra signatures that were within a ten mile radius.

_'Naruto, Naruto where are you?' _He thought to himself. After a few seconds of searching something ping inside his head and he found two chakra signatures that he recognized, Naruto's and Larxene's. His eyes snapped open when he released the jutsu and he felt the fatigue that came with using that certain jutsu. "Found you!" He said before coming to a violent stop on a tree branch, nearly breaking it off of the trunk. With a quick motion he spun around and sprang the other way.

It seems that he was actually very close to Naruto and Larxene, either they had been standing in one place for a really long time or he was just that fast. In his mind he went with the second scenario. After around ten minutes of tree hopping he could see the fuzzy outline of two bodies in front of him.

"Naruto!" He yelled out, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw a spiky bush of bond hair turn around, Naruto. Both him and Larxene had stopped on their own respective branches, waiting for Kakashi to get to them. When he caught up to them Naruto began with an interrogation.

"And where were you?"

"Hunting Momochi." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Kakashi then began to scratch the back of his head and gave a sheepish one eyed smile. The motion reminded Naruto of how he used to at before Kyuubi lifted his seal on him.

"I was kind of trying to get him....back, you know for injuring me like he did in our first fight." He nervously chuckled.

"And you're are leader....fuck we're all screwed. And aren't you supposed to be like fucking former anbu or something?" Larxene's head instantly snapped toward Kakashi.

"What HE was an anbu?"

"An freaking anbu captain."

"No way.." Her jaw dropped when Naruto sternly nodded in order to further strengthen the truth behind his words. Suddenly Kakashi cut in, changing his expression from a sheepish one to one of seriousness.

"That's not the point." He said. "What is the point is that I've got some bad news."

"Which is..."

"Zabuza...he's changed.'

"What exactly do you mean." Kakashi let out a sigh of frustration.

"Come on...I'll explain it while we head back."

"Back to where?" Larxene asked.

"Back to town, that's where." With that all three of them jumped off into the greenery, heading straight toward the town.

Ten seconds after the gained stability in their tree-hopping Naruto asked. "So what the hell is this about Momochi changing?"

"Right... now like I was saying. He has changed, he's bigger now. Bulging muscles, sturdy skin, and dammit he's gotten a hell of a lot stronger!" Kakashi rubbed the arm were he had been hit by Zabuza's kick. "And that's not all, he has also changed on the inside."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that his chakra has changed along with his body, it's not normal. I's fucking evil, evil indeed. That is the type of chakra and killing intent that you would expect to come from an oni." Naruto scratched his chin, as if he was thinking of an explanation to Zabuza's drastic change. Nothing.

"Any ideas as to how he got this power?" Larxene asked, to which Kakashi shook his head."

"Hell if I know? For all I know he could have gotten that type of power from something that's not even in this world." Naruto then snapped.

"Or he could have gotten it from _someone_affiliated with the beings that aren't of this world." He glanced at Larxene and she glanced back.

Larxene then continued on from where Naruto left off. "In other words....Saiki."

"Saiki?" Kakashi said.

"Yeah.. Saiki, a group of collectors who hunt for anything and everything of great power. I was once a member but.... I failed to complete a mission and now I can't return. Currently they think that I'm dead so they won't come after me in order to finish me off."

"What mission did you fail."

"I failed to capture this fucker over here."

She thrust a thumb at Naruto and he just replied with a wide grin. Naruto then cut her off and continued on for her. "Yeah they were after my kekkei genkai and sent her but I defeated her. And now they have sent someone else to capture me, and for some reason he needs Zabuza in order to capture me. I already now who it is though."

"Who is it then?" Larxene and Kakashi asked in unison. Naruto put his hands up in defense, urging them to back the fuck up! He then raised one finger.

"Marlucia...Marlucia Zerbast; I had a run in with him during your first fight with Zabuza. Do you remember that abnormal mist when you first fought with Zabuza?" Kakashi nodded. "It was him who was helping Zabuza, it was him who created that mist, in fact it wasn't mist at all. It was ice, tiny little particles of ice; that's why you couldn't dispel it because it wasn't a jutsu. It was a signature technique, that only he could use. All-..."

Larxene cut in again. "-All members of the Saiki have what you you would call a weapon, we choose them and they choose us, it's two way thing. That Marlucia guy's weapon is water, no actually it's just a variation of water, he can only control ice to his will. You couldn't dispel the mist because the mist was fully in his control, you couldn't do anything."

'What's your weapon?" Kakashi asked. Larxene was quiet for a moment then responded. "I use my shadow as a weapon." Kakashi's eyebrow went up. _'Interesting, her ability is similar to that of the Nara clan.' _At that moment Naruto thought that it would be best to not mention what Larxene's real weapon was, which was the shadow realm; not just her shadow but all shadows.

"Anyway, you do know what our next objective is right?" Kakashi asked.

"By next objective you do mean, finding Gato and infiltrating his base?" Kakashi nodded.

"Unfortunately I didn't find out where Gato is hiding." Naruto smiled.

"But I did." Kakashi's eye dropped. The looked on that one eye of his just screamed out 'how?'. "I have my ways." Naruto said.

"Guy's look ahead, I can see the town up ahead." Both Kakashi and Naruto did what Larxene had instructed and they saw the entrance to the northeast gate. In front of it stood five men, probably all below jounin. "Looks like we're going to have a little bit of resistance huh?" Both of them nodded in unison.

"That makes it all the better!" Naruto said.

"That makes two of us.....oh an by the way." Kakashi looked at both Naruto and Larxene. "You two are really in sync, I mean you guys are finishing each others sentences and right now your movements are pretty much the same." Naruto and Larxene looked down at each of their legs, perfect synchronization. "You two remind me of a really close couple, it's actually kind of cute in my opinion."

Larxene growled at that comment, as did Naruto but he did it with less of a blush on his face than Larxene. "We're not a couple!" Larxene blurted out.

"I never said that you were. Why so defensive?" Kakashi asked in a teasing way, he then sped up leaving Naruto and Larxene in the dust. When Naruto glanced at Larxene she quickly turned away, afraid to show him her face.

"That asshole." Said Naruto before he too sped up followed by Larxene; all three of them heading for the five men that blocked their path. In less than five seconds they were at the front of the gate facing five nin, all carrying spears

"Stop...who goes state your business." One of them demanded. He aimed his words at Kakashi who obviously looked the part of their leader.

"I've got no time for this..." Kakashi wiped out three kunai and in the blink of an eye impaled three men in their necks. Before they could hit the ground, however, all three men poofed out of existence, shadow clones.

Now two remained. Kakashi crossed hims arms. "Well if your shadow clones, then you should let us pass. You're obviously not strong enough to defeat any of us here. So let us pass." The two other men grunted, and their knees buckled. It looked as if they were contemplating on whether or not they should go ahead and open the door for these three nin from Konoha. This annoyed Naruto quite a bit.... so in order to speed up their thinking process he directed at them a concentrated amount of killing intent. His satisfied grin attested to their chokes and gasps for air, until they to exited the world much like their counterparts, with a sound poof.

"That's how you get things done Kakashi...what they fuck were YOU doing...talking to shadow clones, hah!" Naruto walked past him to the rather large gate.

"Yeah yeah, just shove it up your ass. Alright from here on in we're incognito.... so I suggest that we take on our disguises now." All three of them nodded, then made a single hand seal. There were three poof and in place of three nin of Konoha stood three nin of Kiri.

One was a young brown-haired man: Kakashi

The other a short redhead: Naruto.

And last but not least, a black-haired woman in her late teens: Larxene. All three of them wore the standard garbs of Kiri nin, which consisted of the standard ninja vest and training pants. The vest looked pretty similar to Konoha's version save for a couple modifications here and there.

"Let's go." Kakashi said. All three nin opened the large door into the town and walked back inside is borders. But before they walked into the town, Kakashi felt something. More like a wave of something; a wave of chakra to be exact. He knew whose it was as well, for this chakra felt like downright negative energy.

He looked up at the sky, dark clouds began to roll in, blocking out the golden rays provided by the sun. Back in Konoha it was considered a bad omen when dark clouds would come in from the north. But this wasn't Konoha, but still he just knew something bad was going to occur. His grim thoughts were confirmed when he felt another wave of foul chakra brush past his face like a soft breeze.

"Stop..." Both Naruto and Larxene stopped in their tracks. Naruto turned around first.

"So you felt it too?" Kakashi nodded as did Larxene. "Is that what you were talking about?" Kakashi nodded again. "Good, that's what I want."

"Zabuza's coming, he's heading straight for this town, and judging by what we just felt he's probably far away. Damn he followed me!" Larxene slapped her forehead.

"You do now that there now is no hope of avoiding confrontation? I know of the transformation that Zabuza went through, now that he's in that state his overall brain function has decreased. Kakashi raised his hand, and Larxene caught on immediately. "No.. he's not dumb." Kakashi put his hand down."

"...oh" They once again began moving walking through the streets like they were normal nin who just so happened to have the day off or something, keeping up their charade.

"His mindset has just become immensely feral" She continued on, "In other words, he has become battle crazed."

Kakashi nodded again. "I'm fully aware of that, I realized it the moment I peered into those golden eyes of his."

"Whoa golden eyes...how come you didn't mention any of this before." Naruto cut in.

"Oh sorry I guess I forgot." Naruto just scoffed, as if anyone could forget something as unique as golden eyes." "But Like I said, I already knew this the instant I looked at him, he's an animal now. Even so, I wish that there was another we could get rid of him without a huge brawl. Judging by Zabuza's power level this town can't take a fight like that." Another wave came this time a bit stronger, signaling that Zabuza was geting closer, the negative energy sent shivers down all three of their spines.

"No we can lure him away... If we're going to fight, then at least get the town out of the way." Naruto said pointing to a large black building that was quite far from them. "That's Gato's base but for now that's going to have to wait." He made two shadow clones

Sparks flew in Kakashi's mind as the light bulb turned on and he jammed his fist against his open palm. "I got it." I know exactly where we can send Zabuza to."

"And that is."

"Remember that bridge we past on out way hear?"

Naruto smirked, which was followed by a snap of his fingers. "Nice, that's our battle ground, now all we got to do is find Sakura and Sasuke and tell them what we intend to do. Leave that to me." He turned to the his clones and mentally relayed to them their instructions: find Sakura and Sasuke, codename banshee and emo king.

"You know?" Kakashi said..it be better for them to stay away from the battle. With their current power levels they would be more of a hindrance than a help to us."

Naruto tapped his chin while nodding. "Yeah you're right", he pointed his finger at his clone without looking at him. "Your new instructions: I want you to enter Gato's HQ" he then said "Transform." His second clone then transformed itself into Kakashi.

"Good thinking, it wouldn't seem right If I wasn't there."

"Exactly. Now you two... you have your orders.... go." With that both clones disappeared, leaving behind a wisps of dust in their wake.

Now it was time for them to go. If they stayed there any longer Zabuza would definetly catch them. Kakashi glanced at the sky once more..releasing from his mouth a sigh. The clouds were rolling in, fluffy like big dark balls of cotton._'Yeah there's definitely no way that we can avoid this fight. I hoped that we wouldn't have to fight like this...maybe we should have left after Tazuna was delivered.'_He glanced at Naruto,who was also staring at the dark clouds." The blond nin then brought his gaze toward him.

"A bad omen...looks like something big's about to happen." He said lazily leaning of to the side while flexing his arm in a windmill motion. Then he smiled. "But that's just the way I like it!" Another wave of foul chakra flew past them, this time with a little bit more force. Naruto began to snicker...like an insane little junkie who was drugged up on something. "That's right Momochi, come." Both Larxene and Kakashi looked at the blond in disguise....both with worried stares.

"You okay?" Kakashi said, which Naruto replied to with a nod and continued to shake and shiver, stung by the cold wind of Zabuza's chakra

There was something wrong with Naruto..he was being affected by something, it could've been this evil chakra. But if it was then why wasn't it affecting Larxene or himself. What was it that was affecting him, what did the little blond nin have they didn't?

"It's happening" Naruto said.

"What is"

"This chakra's affecting me...I can feel it. It's like I'm being engulfed in madness. I know that its only started but for some reason I feel extremely off edge. I feel like fighting for some reason. Maybe there is something up with this chakra, I don't know but for some reason I..... all of a sudden feel the need to fight." Another wave of foul chakra came, making Naruto cringe.

Then it hit him. Evil chakra, plus evil chakra can only be made out to be more evil chakra.

...Or in Naruto's case...demon youkai. That was it....it was the demon youkai, more commonly known as Kyuubi's chakra that was causing him to act in this way. Zabuza's fould chakra wasn't affecting Kakashi or Larxene in the way that it was only because they didn't have Kyuubi inside of them.

**"Naruto...." **

_'What...I know it's your chakra that's doing this. It can't be helped though. So don't worry.'_

**"My deepest apologies...Naruto-kun." **

Naruto clutched the side of his head. "Kakashi...we need to go, I stay here any longer, I'm sure Zabuza's chakra will surely cause me to go insane."

"Are you sure..maybe it better for-..."

Naruto then swiped his hand in the air.... swinging it around like a weapon. "No!" He brought his hand back to his head. "We have to go..and dammit I'm coming with you!" Another huge wave, blew past them. This chakra was sickening, it was making Naruto mad. It seemed like every time Zabuza got closer the feel of his chakra would get stronger. It brought Naruto to his knees, it was like a terrible pain in the back of his head. With a sound poof Naruto reverted back to his original appearance unable to retain his diguised form.

He laughed and laughed...cackled even.

"I can feel it....hahaha....the madness!" Naruto yelled into the air.

"Naruto get a hold of yourself!" Larxene moved in front of him and began jostling him back and forth. He still continued to laugh. "Calm down!" Honestly she didn't know what fuck was even going on, if Zabuza's chakra was that bad then why wasn't she like this as well?

"I can't... Lar-chan...I just can't, I can't even stay still right now!" Blue chakra began to flow from his body. She slapped him and the flow stopped. "Lar-..." he just stared, blank, right into the sky, which was now filled in abundance with a sea of never-ending dark clouds.

"Heh, almost lost control there didn't you?" She turned to Kakashi, he knew what she wanted to ask. So he answered her without a question.

"It's Kyuubi's chakra inside of him that's doing this. Zabuza's chakra has a feral quality to it and the closer he comes to Naruto more Naruto will continue to act like this. Its not just affecting him but us as well. Even now we're being affected by Zabuza's chakra, and If I'm correct given some time we too shall start to act like Naruto. The only reason Naruto has been affected by the madness before us is because of the demonic chakra inside of him, it is being affected by Zabuza's madness and is in turn aiding in speeding up the process of Naruto's growing insanity. In other words Kyuubi's chakra is acting like a catalyst for Zabuza's madness, and if this continues on Naruto will surely go insane.

"Wow, to think that I fought twice with Konoha's fabled Jinchuuriki and didn't even realize it."

At that moment Larxene looked in at Naruto's upward gaze and realized that there was a ring of solid orange around his pupil. Without realizing it Naruto had activated his geostigma. In truth this was actually a defense mechanism in his body. Whenever the body was affected by an opposing outside force the geostigma would automatically activate itself unless Naruto will it not to do so. It served only one purpose, to provide the user with an extra amount of chakra for defense. Just in case that person was immobilized, like Naruto, they would at least have enough energy to create a chakra feild around themselves. Maybe the geostigma really did have a mind of its own. Larxene lowered her gaze, feeling a little sorry for Naruto. Having to carry a burden like that, she didn't think that she could ever relate to him when it came to having a bad life.

Also at that moment Larxene noticed, that even with Naruto making such a ruckus none of the other towns people seemed to notice a thing. Larxene turned her gaze to Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi-san.... Naruto here is making such a scene and yet why is it that none of the people here seem to noti-.... oh that's why. Never mind I see it now." It turns out that Kakashi had placed a very complicated genjutsu around them that rendered them both invisible and inaudible. They couldn't make a scene even if they wanted to. Kakashi had actually placed it on them when they first stepped past the gate. Larxene mentally slapped herself for not realizing it sooner, and more importantly it caused her to actually consider how strong the cyclops jounin really was. To use a genjutsu of this level without her noticing; he must have been the real deal.

Another wave of chakra erupted in the sky, this time it came stronger than ever. Actually it wasn't even a wave it was more like a explosion of chakra across the sky. Both Kakashi and Larxene had realized what was happening. They had wasted too much time...... and it was already too late, Zabuza was already here.

Another huge wave exploded over the town. Every person that could sense chakra, ninja both active and inactive, could feel it. The chakra went past the villagers unadressed. Because they couldn't sense chakra they couldn't feel it.

And at that very moment Kakashi, Larxene and every other ninja in the town was very aware of an obviously evil presence in the center of town, Zabuza.

Larxene stood up, looking to where the presence was...then they saw it. Standing on top of Gato's HQ, a good distance away from them was Momochi Zabuza, and surprisingly hanging off of his arm was...... Gato! Standing on the large, black building was Zabuza with Gato hanging to his arm for dear life.

"What the FUCK?!" Kakashi said, not caring how loud he was, only because he knew that his genjutsu still concealed his presence.

"Is that.....?" Larxene began to ask.

"Yessss.... Lar-chan....hahaha.. that heheh.... is Momochi Zabuza!" Naruto cut in, with a crazed expression on his face. Halfway through his speech Naruto had switch from talking to laughing, in his current state something like a simple sentence being controlled by rational thought was damn near impossible!

Larxene on the other hand couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had never imagined that 'calling' a Saiki member would cause someone to change this drastically. He didn't look like a regular human, whatever Zabuza was she knew that he was about as far as possible from normal as one could get.

Zabuza began to laugh. His laughter was loud and grim; it was everywhere...or so it seemed. Zabuza's laughter seemed to be coming from almost every direction. Even them who were on the edge of town could here Zabuza's voice loud and clear. It was as if his voice was being amplified through a thousand megaphones all at once!

Naruto the began to laugh again, like a madman. "Hahaha....I the madness... the madness! I want to fight, but my body...hehehe... can't even move right now!"

Larxene's eyes widened. "Kakashi-san, we need to get Naruto-kun out of here, and now! Her expression was one of desperation...... she was genuinely worried about Naruto's well-being. Kakashi didn't respond. "Please... now, we have to go!" Right then she caught herself....her face glowing a deep red. She knew she was supposed to be worried about Naruto, but why was she this worried?

Kakashi shook his head again. "We can't go. The genjutsu I set up has a set area and if we even step one foot outside of its perimeter then my genjutsu will be broken, Zabuza might sense the chakra flux that occurs when my genjutsu is dispelled and spot us. It's too much of a risk for us to take."

Larxene just sighed at Kakashi's answer, she would have to face the grim fact that right now all she could was stand there and listen to what Zabuza had to say. She sat down next to Naruto, even mad and on his knees he was fighting.

"Hel-..p.... me....hehehe." She rested a hand on his shoulder, which seemed to calm him down a bit.

"We will Naruto-kun... we will."

(With Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi/ Naruto and Naruto 2.0)

This was bad, this was really bad. What was even worse was that it was so random. For some reason Naruto and Kakashi had shown up...without Larxene and they were about to begin with the infiltration of Gato's base when out of the blue some huge demonic, bodybuilder freak showed up carrying a really fat guy on his arm. What was even more annoying was that as soon as he came he kick-started almost immediate chaos and now he was laughing about it, with a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto's two clones of Kakashi and himself stood amidst a scene of complete and utter discord. People we running around for cover, the instant they set their eyes on that....demon man, everyone ran for their lives. Kids ran home, even adults were screaming and running like chickens with their heads cut off.

Some of the ninja who had been stationed in the town were having trouble keeping all the villagers in check.

But there was something about this man....that was....not right. The way his chakra felt, it felt evil... insane and inhumane. It felt like his chakra was the very essence of insanity itself.

Sakura nudged Sasuke with her elbow. "Who i-is.... th-that?" asked Sakura, asking both Kakashi and Sasuke at the same time.

"Hell... if know!" was all she got from Sasuke.

"It's Momochi Zabuza." That was the response she got from Kakashi. Sakura and and Sasuke both gasped at the news.

"What..?" Sasuke said, "That can't be him." The he noticed something, the man had no eyebrows....yep that was Zabuza for sure.

With a snap shut of his mouth Zabuza stopped laughing. **"All of you... shut the fuck up!" **His voice boomed across the town stopping any and everybody dead in there tracks. He held the fat man over the edge of Gato's HQ. **"For all of you who don't know this.... this is Gato!" **That earned him a helping of gasp, curses, and shouts from the townspeople below. **"He is the reason why you all live life the way you do, he is the reason you live in poverty!" **More shouts and curses were yelled out, all of them directed at Gato. You would think that they would have remembered that there was a huge, demon-like freak standing in front of them.

"Hey...." Sakura whispered to Sasuke said.

"I already know, when we've got the chance I'll explode those tags." Sakura just nodded.

**"Do you want...revenge?!" **

"YESSSS" The crowd answered him back, already stirred up and ready. They were pumped up that every now and then someone would yell, 'drop the mother fucker!', and everyone in the crowd would agree.

"Just what the fuck is he doing?" Said Naruto to Kakashi. All he got was a shoulder shrug. The clone just looked at Zabuza, preparing to mentally relay what exactly was he was seeing to the his creator. 'Hey boss...are you seeing this?' He thought, while opening a mental link with the real Naruto. 'Hey boss..are you-...! What the fuck?'

Suddenly the clone feel to his knees, his head felt like it was about to explode. He let out a little gasp and erupted in a cloud of smoke. Fortunately Zabuza didn't notice this, the noise of the crowd concealed the sound of Naruto's dissipated clone.

Seeing this Sakura and Sasuke jumped away, in surprise. "Why did he just poof away? asked Sakura, thoroughly creeped out. The Kakashi clone just scratched his head. Guess the cat was out of the bag.....

"Heh, we're clones." He said and he too erupted in smoke, leaving Sakura and Sasuke both slack-jawed. It seems to to say that as soon as both of the clones tried to open a mental link with the real Naruto they got a beautiful helping of their creator's current state of insanity.

"Great... they weren't even real." Said Sakura turning back to Zabuza.

**"I can give you revenge.... that I can. I'll give him to you today." **He dropped the Gato into the crowd, by which he was caught and almost immediately slapped around. Zabuza took in a deep breath at the sounds of the cheering towns folk and the screams of Gato. As the crowd began to carry Gato off into the town square, Zabuza yelled out. **"Wait, I only did this... so that you can all enjoy your last days of life!" **That's when all became silent and his words hung in the air, not unheard but unbelieved.

"What, what are you talkin' about!" Yelled a random citizen.

**"Rest assure, you can take your revenge on Gato, but by tomorrow I'll come back and you all. You see I want revenge, or at least a really good fight. And unless there is someone in this town that give me a worth while fight, I'm going to destroy this place." **This was followed by numerous murmurs and quite a few screams occurring in the crowd.

**You have the rest of today, and until noon tomorrow to find somone to fight me.......now have fun." **Zabuza began to laugh maniacally, his voice booming over every other sound. After five seconds of laughing he slowly faded away from sight, leaving the rest of the town to decide how they were going to exact their revenge on Gato in their last hours of life. How he did it nobody knew, he was just gone with the wind.

And for some reason Sasuke couldn't help but think that that remark was somehow meant to be for Kakashi, perhaps it was Zabuza's way of challenging him to a rematch.

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**Read this or I will be pissed!: **And make sure you review god dammit!

Man i'm done! You know for some reason while I was writing crap just kept popping into my head like bam! Idea after Idea, like the whole Naruto about to go completely insane thing, yea...pulled tat one straight out the ass. Anyway, either you like or you don't like so just confirm it in a review. Concerning the Xion thing for the harem, seeing as how she won't be around for at least a chapter or two, I guess that I'll tell you something about her. Well for one she's a redhead, you know I got a review asking whether or not Fem Kyuubi would be in the story. Seeing as how that's not a possibility right now I said hey, if people want fem Kyuubi then I'll make a character similar to fem Kyuubi. Anyway, she's has red hair, around five seven. Pretty short I guess. Has an amazing body, like holy shit I would totally bone this chick the instant I saw her. That type of body. Has a bad temper, which is a coincidence in conjunction with her fiery hair. That's all I'll say, don't make me tell you what she can do....don't do it. You are not worthy. Just let it be known that she can fight, maybe even on par with Naruto and Larxene.

That's all I got to say for now.

Top five:

Chronostorm

Sir Midnight The DarkSlayer

Icey Dragon Flame

Mentalkid

GraityTheWizard

These five guys are my five favorite reviewers, go on to their accounts... cause they kick ass! So go do it! You'll find some shit that's worth your while.

**Alert!:** I'm am at 180+ reviews right now so I need YOU to help me make it to 200 reviews. Please oh please help me in my race to get to 200+ reviews. Review dammit! Thanks.

Read and Review

Next chapter: Touch of Insanity

Grim's steppin' out!


	10. Touch of Insanity

Yeaaah boiiiii!

Happy new year to you all! After I sent out my last chapter, someone sent me a review asking if I could update before next year. So I decided to challange myself, so I worked harder than ever with this chapter, it's kind of a rush job though. I just wanted to get this out before the new year. My goal was to get at least twelve thousand five hundred words for this chapter. But just to be a complete asshole to myself I wrote only twelve thousand five hundred and one words.

wOOT! How did you all like that last chapter. I just thought I get some plot in there, you know...too spice it up a bit. Well this is Chapter ten, that's all I can say.....no wait I can say more! That whole insanity concept I'm planning on sticking with it, so you can look forward to seeing Naruto go insane again. That I can assure you.

For some reason in this chapter I really wasn't feeling anything, like no ideas were coming out or anything....nothing at all. I swear I had to brain storm for at least forty-five minutes, I just had major writer's block and whatnot. But for those who wanted this chap. in time, you can ease up off me cuz i GOT it and here it is, but seriously it was a freaking hassle, I don't think that I'm ever going to update this quickly ever again. I'm just way too lazy.

On with the story

Enjoy mutha fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

He recovers, she waits, they formulate a plan

Dust floated freely along the corridors of this castle. It was dank, dark, and medieval. Even in this castle, which by the way was huge, it stood about fifty stories high in the middle of an open plain covered in black grass. It was gargantuan, made from a strange black stone, with two spires twisting on it's left and right sides. In between those two spiraling towers was the main body of the actual castle.

One would expect a castle of this size to inhabit hundreds of people. But in fact it only held two people. And so it brings us to the two that inhabited this place, Naruto and Kyuubi.

Naruto lay on a soft king sized bed, in a large room. Next to him a large dresser, and directly across his left side was a closet. A big television was stationed in the right corner of the of the room, next to some rather large windows that allowed the graceful light of an eternal moon flow in.

"Naruto....." Naruto shifted a bit, but then went back to his dreams. "Naruto...." This time his cracked his eyes open and he let out a reluctant grunt. "Wake up."

"Huh?....wha-..where am-?" He sat upright then looked to his left to see Kyuubi standing at one of the windows, the pseudo human had his back turned to him. He leaned back on his elbows and let out a sigh. "Is this what you've done to the place...?" Naruto raised an eyebrow lazily.

"Because if it is I like it." The blond let out a small chuckle before deeply sighing again for Kyuubi did not respond. There was a brief moment of silence and for a long time Kyuubi did not say a word. He then turned his head, in order to look at Naruto, his gaze was grim.

Naruto it's my fault.... it's my fault you were like that."

"Like what?" Naruto asked suddenly. This caused great anger to well up in Kyuubi.

For a moment there was no reply until Kyuubi quickly turned around and swiped at the air. The window behind him flew open, bringing in a volatile tempest that blew wind everywhere.

"Like what? You know what I mean Naruto! It's my fault...it's my fault that you entered that state, it's my fault that you went insane!" His sharply pointed teeth were clenched in a apologetic snarl.

"Geez could you cut that out.... I really don't like that wind all in my face, and close that damn window." Kyuubi's eyes widened, his breathing was still fast but it had lost it manic tempo. Why is it that Naruto wasn't acting as he had anticipated the boy would? He expected Naruto to wake up completely depressed, but judging by his facial expression it seemed as if he didn't really care that he had just gone temporarily insane. "So are you going to close it or not?"

Kyuubiwavedhis hand, thereby making the window close itself and cutting off the gust of wind. All that was left was a low how of wind generated by the gale outside that seemed to claw at the glass.

"How can you speak so nonchalantly, do you realize what just happened?" He didn't know why the boy wasn't bothered by the information, he didn't even know why he was so angry. Maybe he was angry at himself for causing Naruto so much pain......that must have been his human side that thought that way.

Naruto shook his head. "Actually no...tell me Kyuubi, cause I really don't know what they hell is going on." He slid to the left and placed his feet on the floor. He wore no shirt and had only a pair of light blue pants on. He looked down. "What the hell...my clothes, you been messing with me Kyuubi?"

"That's not the point Naruto, you really don't remember what just happened to you?" Naruto again shook his head, he then looked around searching for something. "Your clothes are over there." Kyuubi pointed with one clawed finger at a corner of the room where his clothes hung on a steel coat rack.

"No, I don't remember anything. But I do remember feeling a certain way..... for some reason I feel weird, there's this sensation in the back of my head and it feels....chaotic. Other than that I feel fine, but seeing as how you say that I went insane.....tell me, what did happen? All remember was standing in town with Kakashi and Larxene and then....blank.....now I'm here with you."

Naruto had just finished putting on his regular black pants and was now working on his undershirt. Kyuubi walked past him, tapping him on the shoulder. "Walk with me." He said, to which Naruto just slipped on his shirt and jacket and said 'sure'.

Then they exited the room. Now they walked along the corridors of the giant castle, while walking Naruto noticed that there was a light coming from the ceiling, but to his surprise there were not lights, no torches or anything of the like. In fact one could say that the ceiling literally glowed, giving off a hypnotic white light. The many windows along the wall added to the amount of light that was in hallway, it resulted in the hallways being much brighter than one would expect for such an evil and badass castle.

"Naruto, you went insane....crazy, you couldn't even stop yourself from laughing like a lunatic." Naruto raised a confused eyebrow. "And it was all my fault."

"Why the hell do you keep saying that?" Hearing the same thing said over and over again seriously ticked Naruto off.

"Because _it_ _is _my fault, when that scum Zabuza came near you his chakra touched you. It's something that only can be done with a certain demon's youkai. It's called the chakra of Konton, or the chakra of confusion. Konton was an ancient demon who was alive back when I was what you full humans would have called..... an adolescence."

"Whoa...that must have been centuries ago." That struck a nerve in Kyuubi's head.

"That's not the point!" He coughed. "Anyway, Konton was a... no...was THE demon of chaos, and his domain was in what is now the entirety of present day Demon country and present day Marsh country, Oni no kuni and Numa no Kuni. That's far from here way down south." Finally Naruto and Kyuubi arrived at a closed door that had a skull and crossbones and the kanji for training room on it.

"Training room.....we're going to fight?" Kyuubi nodded, first I'm to finish the story then I'm going to fight, seeing as how you seem completely unaffected by your breif moment of insanity then I guess it's not too much if I ask for a little spar."

"Ok...then continue on with the story." They walked through the door, the inside, wasn't what Naruto expected. It had metal walls and there was nothing in it. Except for the words, training room, painted high on the wall. A little disappointing for Naruto, he expected more but decided to address it later.

"Konton...was wild and often went on random rampages through villages far and near. He wasn't the strongest but definitely the most quick-witted clever. In battle if he wanted to he could trick you into biting off your own leg."

"Sounds like one smart demon."

"Exactly.... in fact, he was so clever that he would often trick people into fighting each other for his enjoyment, and considering the fact that many humans back then were as strong as me, you already know that those were some intense battles. Despite how strong we were, however, we couldn't hold a candle to Konton, there was also the factor of him being vastly smarter then us. Because of out de-evolved brain activity, it made it extremely easy for him to trick us and in doing that he led us into a period of what you call civil war."

"I'm guessing that he had to be stopped right?" Naruto said. Both of them had begun to stretch and flew in order to warm up their muscles and as a way to kill some time while Kyuubi was narrating his story.

"Right, so in order to do that we went to the only person we could go to......Konton's brother.......Kinkou. Konton was confusion and chaos, while Kinkou on the other hand was the equilibrium and balance. We sought Kinkou out and he helped us indeed, he succeeded in sealing his brother away in his own territory. And somewhere in the middle of marsh and demon country, that group the Saiki must have found away to alter Konton's seal and extract his chakrawithoutaffecting the demon inside."

Naruto tapped his chin. "Ok.... I guess that's how Zabuza got his power, but that doesn't explain why I went insane...as you say." He then squatted and stretched out his leg while releasing a satisfied grunt. Oh yeah that's good" He said.

"Oh yes my friend yes it does.... you didn't let me tell you the last part! The crucial thing about a demon's chakra is that it is affected by the demon's personality, that's the reason why Zabuza is so power hungry, with that amount of chakra he has become Konton incarnate. And when Zabuza approached you with Konton's chakra inside of him it affected you as well, but because of me being in you his demonic chakra went directly after you, while trying to get to me. Truly it was affecting everyone, you were just affect much faster than your friends."

Naruto stood up then bent himself backward, making another grunt. Kyuubi did pretty much the same, except he bent forward. "So seeing as how you're a demon and your chakra is so fierce that must mean that you must have pretty feral personality as well."

"Hey hey-" Kyuubi responded, "-I'm a pseudo demon. I was fully human until I was embedded with this demonic power, transforming me into the Kyuubi no Kitusune. Even then some of my human form remained, but I was unable to access it up until now. The only reason my chakra WAS so feral was because of the rage I felt when I was attacked and transformed. You know if you were to actually use my chakra every now and then you would see that my chakra has become a lot more gentle, but it's still badass." Kyuubi cracked his neck making a sound that bounced through the metal room and sent a shiver down Naruto's spine.

"Hey Kyuubi why did they have to turn you into a partial demon." Kyuubi stood up straight then pointed one finger into the air.

"Because, little one, you can't seal a human into another human....it's against Kami's law. The only way to seal something into a human with the use of a sealing technique is if that thing has demonic energy, ergo they changed me into one so that in the future they could seal me into you, at least that's how I see it."

Naruto then stood straight up...... he hopped up and down experimentally, like he had never used his own body. 'WELL that's enough story time for me...." Naruto windmilled his arm. "-Time to fight!" He went into his battle stance

"Indeed it is." Said Kyuubi as he slid into his own refined battle position.

"Hey are we really going to fight here?" Kyuubi then smiled and snapped his fingers. The words Training Room on the wall began to glow and there was a flash of light. When the bright light subsided Naruto found that he and Kyuubiwerestanding on...water! They were on top of a large lake, and out of the surface of the water protruded several hundred spikes of rock. All around them was rock; they were inside of a large crater, filled with water basically.

"Oh...I get it, a simulator." Kyuubi tapped his head and smiled again.

"Quite the sharp one we have here."

With that both Kyuubi and Naruto jumped at each other, both ready to begin their 'spar' against each other.

(Outside world)

Larxene walked into a dank room with a bucket filled with water. Inside she saw Naruto lying on the bed, unconscious. She sat on the chair next to the bed and placed the bucket directly next to her. She placed her hand on Naruto's head for about four five seconds then nodded.

"He's got fever alright-" reaching into the bucket she pulled out a rag and after squeezing it she placed it on his head. "- but why." After Zabuza left the town Naruto completely shut down. The end result left him with a dangerously high fever, Kakashi had to immediately rush him back to Tazuna's house, it was too dangerous to send him to a hospital. Right now, they weren't even supposed to be here.

Larxene let out a deep sigh, which she had been doing pretty much the entire day; what was that...sigh number ninety-nine. One more and she was in the record books. She glanced at Naruto's face...his expression: peaceful. She reached out and touched the side of his face, letting her fingers slide all the way down to his collarbone which was exposed because he wasn't wearing a shirt.

A sudden gasp came from her when she realized what she was doing and she pulled away. The was a click and the door behind her opened; in stepped Kakashi.

"How's he doing?" He asked

"Still unconscious and his temperature doesn't seem to be getting any better." Kakashi then walked over to Naruto and glanced down at him. The boy had gone through a lot in such a short amount of time, he was strong.....Kakashi wasn't sure if he would still be alive if that had happened to him.

He glanced back and saw Larxene's facial expression. "Don't worry about him, he'll be alright. Right now I'm sure he's fighting his own battle right know. (Oh if Kakashi only knew how right he was) But for now this is all we can do, we've given him everything he needs, no we wait for him to sweat in out." Kakashi took the sheets that stopped at Naruto's waist and pulled them up to his neck.

"I'm going out for a bit, if Zabuza's a man of his word then he really will come tomorrow and that happens we need to be ready. I'll be out assembling any nearby ninja who are brave enough to go against Zabuza."

"Do you need anything from me?" Larxene asked.

"No I'm alright by myself." Kakashi turned and walked out the door leaving Larxene and Naruto alone.

Larxene brought her gaze back to Naruto. "You better hurry up and get better already, we're going to need you tomorrow." She looked to her left were a dresser was placed and on top of it a digital clock that displayed the time of 8:50. She then looked out the window...... the moon shined brightly, casting a magnificent light upon Naruto that made him look luminescent, as if he glowed. It was a surprise, his bright blond hair actually looked better when it was under the moonlight, instead of the sunlight.

(Mindscape)

A large explosion occurred in the middle of a lake, spraying into the air a plume of water vapor. Two blurs flew out on opposite sides, one was black and yellow, the other was was black and red. The first yellow blur landed on the water and shot back at the red one, it bounced off of the several pillars sticking out of the water and collided into it. Both blurs crashed into the water. After a few seconds the two blurs both exploded out of the water and immediately charged at each other, exchanging blows so rapidly that it was impossible to see who was who. The yellow landed on a rock and almost as if on cue the red blur shot down on it, they stopped for a second, revealing Naruto and Kyuubi.

Both of them wore a matching pair of spitfire gauntlets. Naruto jumped back and was immediately followed by Kyuubi who slashed at his face, but Naruto dodged by ducking it and coming up with and clawed uppercut. Kyuubi stopped it by parrying it with his own gauntlet, creating a loud pang of metal against metal. He smirked.

"Naruto-kun... is that the best you can do?" He said before kneeing the boy then throwing him into a rock.

"Not a chance." Naruto said as he charged back, Kyuubi stood straight in wait. Naruto knew that Kyuubi was a smart fighter so he had to be quick about his battle tactics. He had given the fox enough power to equal a high jounin around Kakashi's level. He wanted to be a challenge and that's what was happening, everything that he had thrown at Kyuubi was either blocked, reversed or dodged.

Kyuubi stuck his hand out, and slowly beckoned for Naruto to come. "Naruto-kun, come at me with everything that you've got. I've meaning to tell you about the...modifications I made." Naruto lifted an eyebrow.

"WHAT modifications?" Naruto said before he charged in. He aim a punch at Kyuubi's face, but Kyuubi dodged by stepping to the side and while lifting up Naruto's arm he struck with a left hook.

"The ones I made to your body." He said before he struck out; Naruto countered by grabbing Kyuubi's arm but Kyuubi foiled Naruto plans when he when he felt something grab his feet. A pair of hands were locked onto Naruto's ankles.

"Fuck...when did-..?"

"Pay attention Naruto!" Naruto looked up only to be jammed in the nose by a headbutt from Kyuubi, causing him to let go of Kyuubi's Gauntlets. Kyuubi followed up then by slash to the ribs, a slash to the shoulder, then finally Kyuubi hit Naruto in the face with his elbow. The force of the blow was enough to send Naruto flying.

Kyuubi then jumped straight at Naruto, launching himself like a missile. Naruto was stiil dazed from the force of that last blow to realize that Kyuubi was now above him, coming down with a hard vertical axe-kick.

"Shit." Naruto grabbed Kyuubi foot in mid-air; he twisted around, spinning Kyuubi with him. He then pulled Kyuubi in and let go, hitting Kyuubi in the chest with a spinning roundhouse.

As they both fell Kyuubi yelled over to him. "Naruto-kun....Let me tell you what I did.....your clones I modified them so that they wouldn't disappear after just one fatal hit, but after fifty."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What...sweet, wait why?"

"So that you can train by yourself without fear of hurting anyone." Naruto just nodded before they both landed on the water feet first. "But that's not all."

"Oh really, hn, tell me." Kyuubi then shook his head.

"Beat it out of me."

"Fine." Naruto was about twenty feet from Kyuubi, so he knew that he wouldn't be able to catch him off guard with close quarters so he decided that it was time to use some far-ranged tactics. He slipped off his two gauntlets and dropped them into the water, knowing that he could not lose them in his mind.

"Oh what are we doing here?" Kyuubi said while chuckling. He did the same as Naruto.

Naruto sprung into action, with amazing dexterity he threw out three kunai at Kyuubi who dodged two of them then stopped last one by catching it. "Is this all you got?" Kyuubi taunted before he noticed that the kunai was hissing. He looked down, to see a burning explosive tag wrapped around it's handle.

"Smart..but not smart enough!" Kyuubi simply tossed it into the air; it exploded and instead of an explosion of fire there was an explosion of smoke. "A smoke...tag? I didn't even know those existed."

From afar Naruto smirked....Kyuubi was falling right into his plan. He jumped backward and landed on the spike of a rock pillar. Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "Don't even try it." He looked up at the cloud of smoke above his head and with a burst of chakra blew it away. His eyes widened once more when he saw a single kunai heading for him through the smoke, he too slipped a kunai and threw it. But when the two weapons hit Naruto's kunai exploded into fifty other kunai all heading for Kyuubi.

"Damn..what are you trying to do... kill me with kunai?" Kyuubi, not surprisingly dodged every one of them. "I'm tired of shit!" He charged at Naruto who stood still in wait for him.

The boy smiled..."hah...fell for it!" He made single hand sign and in an instant Naruto's gauntlets, which he had dropped earlier, burst out of the water and grabbed Kyuubi by the legs, pulling him down under the water. He could see two little strings of chakra attached to them....that was Naruto's purpose for dropping them. He didn't want to abandon them in order to use kunai but he abandoned them solely for the purpose of capturing Kyuubi.

As Kyuubi was dragged underneath the water he noticed something. All the kunai that he had dodged were all around him in.... in a complete circle, they were all linked together by a single chakra string and that string was attached to the gauntlets. _'Wow I need to give Naruto more credit...he's smarter than I thought he would be. But-" _He mentally sighed. _'-I'm smarter." _

Above the water Naruto activated his geostigma. He snapped twice, on the second snap there was a spark in his fingers. "Hm, now all I got to do is manipulate the static electricity when I snap and I should have a nice electrical current flowing. Kyuubi shouldn't be able to move right now because of the chakra string network I trapped him in." This network was something that Naruto had created. Once when he was training he discovered that if one were to send a flow of continuous chakra through a person's body, specifically their nervous system he could overload their brain function and prevent any messages of movement that the brain sent from reaching their muscles and prevent them from moving.

Because of the continuous flow of chakra this technique required it was extremely hard to maintain, but with a constant flow of chakra flowing through strings that were connected to his chakra he could stop a person from moving with having to touch them, thus leaving him free to do as he wished.

Kyuubi couldn't move, that brought a smile to his face. With a few more snaps he generated an electric current using the friction between his fingers; then he pointed it down at the water.

"Fry..Kyuubi....fry." He released from his finger a small jolt of electricity and upon contact with the water, it ..... well you know the rest. The water was electrified, sending sparks all along it's surface. It continued for five minutes and when it ended Naruto noticed that the water had begun to boil. "And fry you did" He said while chuckling a bit.

"End simula-.....!" As soon as he was about to end the training simulation Kyuubi erupted from the water, heading straight for Naruto. He then grabbed Naruto by the face and slammed him into the rock pillar that he was standing on. He didn't let go, however, still with Naruto's head in hand he threw the boy into the air.

All Naruto saw were little dots of black and white, they flashed on and off dancing before his eyes. He suddenly heard Kyuubi's voice behind.

"This isn't over until someones dead, oh and by the way....look down." Naruto did as instructed and his eyes widened when he his own gauntlets and kunai coming at him. He saw that the chakra string that they were attached to was being controlled by Kyuubi.

"Oh fuck you.....then I guess that this match is over.....I lose.

Knowing his eminent doom Naruto spun around, and placed his hands behind his head. "Hey before I get hit, tell what else did you do to me."

"Oh that's easy, I modified you body so that whenever you train in here the experience will be transferred to your actual body."

"How did you do that?"

"Oh I messed with a couple seals here and there....now I think it's time for you to wake up now......ja ne." Then Naruto turned back around and face the wall of weapons heading for him.

"Seriously.. fuck you!" Then he was hit, impaled to a bloody mess by his own weapons.

(Back in the outside world)

Naruto woke up with a gasp, like he had just resurfaced from underwater. His ear twitched when he heard a startled gasp. He turned to his right, to see Larxene with a surprised expression on her face.

"What the hell, don't do that." She screamed then punched him over the head.

"Owww, what the hell was that for?" Larxene crossed her arms.

"Hmph, that's for going crazy like that." Naruto scratched his head.

"What I-... insane? Are you lying to me?"

Larxene's eyes went wide. "Y-You mean you don't remember?" It was a good thing he didn't remember, cause if her memory served she gave him one hell of a slap. "When Zabuza came you went insane."

"Oh...that. Yeah." Larxene raised her eyebrow, scanning him for suspicion. She didn't know that Naruto couldn't remember his little freak out, really he was just going based on what Kyuubi had told him. "Well what happened while I was....-" He looked down. "- asleep?" He wasn't wearing a shirt, only a pair of his black pants. He looked out the window and noticed that it was night time. "And what happen to about fifty percent of my clothes?"

"Well..." Larxene looked away. "About the clothes thing...I kind of had to take them off you, you were getting too hot."

"Hm.... wow I didn't know you were that kinky, doing it while I was asleep? Come tell me, what'cha do?" Larxene's face was intensely blushing right now; she wore an annoyed facial expression. "Come on now tell me...you said I was-..." He stopped when he was hit in the head again by Larxene.

"Shut up, I meant that you have a fever."

"Okay that's what you meant....see you should have said that from the beginning, or maybe you were using that as an excuse to say that was hot." Naruto chuckled as he ducked another punch from Larxene.

"Namikaze....I'm going to kill you!" Naruto laughed as he jumped out of his bed, and proceeded to be chased around the room by Larxene. He back up against a wall and she tried to punch him, he ducked out of the way and her hand smashed through part of the wall.

"Hah now you're stuck...ha ha."

"Bastard just you wait, as soon as I get my hand of this wall I'm coming for you!" Larxene suddenly released a high-pitched yelp when Naruto suddenly slipped up behind her and pressed her against the wall; he slowly touched her hand and pulled it out of the wall.

"N-Naruto.....what are you doing.....!" She gasped when she felt him press up against her until her face was almost touching the wall. He closer and whispered in her ear.

"You know Lar-chan I there's this funny feeling in me right now." He made his way up to the zipper of his jacket and pulled down.

"Naruto...stop, y-you idiot." What was going on, this wasn't the same Naruto from before. She felt him continued to unzip her jacket and when she tried to stop him, he just moved her hand away. For some strange reason after that she try to stop him...it was as if she wanted it.

_'What's he doing......uh... stop, I don't If I should let him do this...wait of course I know. I DON'T like him' _But after all that thought, Larxene did nothing to stop him. She squeaked when she felt him reach underneath her shirt.

"Right now I don't think I'll be able to control myself, and I just can't explain it. Here's the thing."

"W-What?" She asked weakly.

"I feel, extremely attracted to you right now...I'm not even sure I can control myself."

"Ok....ok this needs to stop." He pushed her even harder onto the wall.

"Why should it?" He responded. His hand slowly began to make its way up her under shirt, going farther up and coming dangerously close to her breast. "Don't you like it?" The sound of his voice sent a nervous tickle down her spine. His hand went even further up her shirt, she could feel the tip of his finger barely tickling her.

"Stop....."

"But you don't want it to do you?" He chuckled. Her breathing got harder as Naruto fully grasped one of her breast in her hand, fondling it for a few seconds before stopping. "I didn't think so, if you really wanted me to stop then you would have shoved me off you the instant I grabbed you." Larxene's eyes widened.....he was right. She did like it, but on the other hand she didn't.

"No.... that's only because...-"

"Because you liked it...right?" Naruto asked seductively. Larxene squirmed in his grasp but Naruto did not let go. Then there was a click at the door.

"Hey...Larxene-san I-....oh crap! U-uh sorry for interrupting." Sakura walked in at the worst time possible. Larxene who pushed Naruto off of her, ran out the room, with her head ducked down.

Naruto sighed. "I was in the middle of something...Sakura." Sakura slowly backed away...not wanting to feel Naruto's wrath.

"M-My bad...It won't happen again....glad to see that you are awake." She then dashed off down the hall hoping that Naruto wouldn't follow her.

Naruto looked down at his stomach. "Kyuubi what else did you do to me?"

**"Oh nothing.. nothing except....speed up the process of testosterone production in your body! Your father did say that you had to rebuild the clan right...... I'm just helping you out." **

This was bad, testosterone was the primary male sex hormone and having a lot of that resulted in having increased levels of libido or sex drive. Right Naruto was a basic fucking machine, he wanted to just grab and bang every girl he saw...all because of Kyuubi. As of now Naruto was a Nympho!

"Hey this better not be permanent!"

**"It's not, it'll wear off ****in an hour or two." **

"Great, thanks a lot you fucking dick. Now I'm going to be walking around this house for and hour with a basic mental boner. Yeah that really helped me out. Now Larxene's probably going to try and kill me in me sleep....or at least cut off my-....." Naruto looked down and feared the worst, he took the absolute worse case scenario into mind. "Kyuubi...you're a sick and twisted monster."

**"Aren't I?" **Naruto mentally scoffed and walked out the room in search of Larxene.

"Dammit Kyuubi, do you see what you did?"

"**I didn't do anything, you're the one who started groping her like that." **Naruto growled when he heard Kyuubi chuckle at that comment.

"Can it you asshole." He suddenly felt something grab him around the waist. It looked like a tentacle, a black one. "Oh shit." said Naruto as he was pulled back into the room he had just walked out of. He was thrown onto the bed and the tentacle that grabbed him wrapped itself around him and the bed, promptly immobilizing him.

"A shadow?"

"Yes, a shadow." Sounded Larxene's voice from a dark corner of the room. She stepped out of the ever-shadowed corner while zipping up her jacket.

"Wow...I didn't know you could do that!"

"Well now you do.. now SHUT UP!" Naruto did as told, closing his mouth while chuckling. Then the testosterone kicked in.

"Yep that's right...I'll do whatever you want, I'm your slave." She just growled at him, her facial expression was calm however.

"She crossed her arms. "Hey about that...thing you just did.." her eyebrow twitched a little bit. "I want you to never do that again, and don't you dare tell anyone about that."

"Too late.. Sakura already saw us."

"You let me worry about that. But if you ever touch me like that again...." Naruto felt the wind of a kunai whizz past his face. "I'll definitely kill you." She scoffed and was about to walk out the room when Naruto screamed out: "wait!"

"What?"

There was a long pause. "You _did_ like it though....right?" Her face suddenly became shrouded in red, like a ripe tomato. She forced back the urge to yell.

Instead she just said. "Just don't do it again. I'll let you off this time, you might still be crazy." She knew very well that that wasn't true.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry, won't happen again I promise." He didn't whether that was a lie or not, with this much testosterone pumping in his system, he didn't know what he would do...or not do. Still she fell for it and released him.

"Although I can't assure that in the future I will refrain from touching you."

"Yeah you will, especially if you value your little...." she looked down at Naruto's pants and immediately looked up, her face just as red as before. "Just get some rest...."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeaaaaah, big....BIG friend, eh Lar-chan? And hey what's that, a nosebleed I see....man am I THAT HOT?"

"No way... it's just a condition." She said in her defense.

"Yeah I've heard of that, it's called mass perversity."

"What you're calling me a pervert. And look, who's the one without his clothes on?"

"Good call, but who's the one that took them off?"

"You know why I did that."

"Yeah.... I know you did it because-" He stuck his finger at Larxene. "You wanted to have you way with me!" Another kunai flew past his face, and Larxene disappeared and reappeared in front of him, she leaned in, their faces only inches apart.

"Why are you acting like this, you never did this before...why now?" She asked.

"Like I said, for some reason I feel extremely attracted to you." He responded.

"That's a lie, I know that you wouldn't do anything this drastic." Pause, then Naruto let a sigh.

"Alright, you caught me...... it's because of the K-" Then it struck him, Larxene didn't know about Kyuubi. Should he tell her, if she was going to come back with him to Konoha then it would be rather stupid for him not to tell her about the pseudo demon that was sealed away in him. "It's because of...Kyuu..." Larxene thrust her finger in the air.

"What were about to say..... did Kyuubi make you do it." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Y-You already know about him... but how?"

"Damn right I know about him, how come you didn't tell me this before. And as for who told me, you can thank your trustworthy sensei. He was the one who told me, when you went insane he told me the reason why. I guess he felt that it wouldn't change anything if I knew about your demon."

"Half demon..."

"Excuse me?"

"I said half demon....he's only half demon, he's got a human side as well." Larxene just shrugged it off as irrelevant.

**"Thanks Naruto-kun." **_'No sweat I'll make sure that nobody refers to you as a demon ever again.'_

_"_Anyway-" Naruto continued. "-Like I was saying it WAS Kyuubi who did this to me. While I was shut down as you say, he decided that it would be kind of cool to speed up my testosterone production and get me like this. He's increasing my sex drive right now."

Larxene raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying that Kyuubi is making you...horny."

"Yeah...pretty much." He nervously chuckled. "I know it sound like complete bullsh-.."

"Fine, I believe you." Boy that one left Naruto blinking pretty fast. "It sounds like complete bullshit.... but I'm willing to believe you this one time."

"That's it..? Nothing else, You're not mad or anything?"

Larxene shook her head. "Nope."

"Oh.... that kind of sucks though....are you sure you're not mad?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"yeah."

"You sure you sure?

"Yeah I'm not mad."

"Ok... but you know what I did back there was pretty-" He was met with a punch to the head.

"I'm not mad, so shut up and go to sleep before I get mad!"

"Okay...jeez." He got back under his sheets before mumbling something about abusive woman, which made Larxene ask "What was that?"

"Nothing." He responded.

"Good." She clapped her hands together, wiping them clean of nothing and walked out the door. Although Naruto didn't see smile on her face when she closed the door or hear her giggle halfway down the hall.

--

Momochi Zabuza was officially considered unstable....there was seriously something wrong with him. After he had come back from the town he basically went mad...again. He kept blabbering on about fighting someone..like Hataye or Ahake or someone with a name like that. It was seriously starting to worry Haku, it all started when that mark appeared on his forehead.

Haku sat in the room of a local hotel. The name of the place escaped her, it was the place Zabuza told her to go to... when she asked whether or not he would come too he just laughed and ran off talking about how he was going to fight someone and kill them.

She sighed. "At least the bed's comfortable. "She said while rubbing the soft linen of the her satin bed covers. She stood up and walked over to the doors that led to a balcony. She went outside and leaned over the rail and looked at the sky, she let out a loud high-pitched whistle from her lips. Seconds later that whistle was returned by another, but this one sounded less artificial, more animal-like. Haku held out her arm and surprisingly the same falcon from before landed directly on it.

"There you are." She stared into it's peircing glare, comforted by it fiery eyes. For some reason this falcon kept clinging to her. It stayed with her even when Zabuza was around. Even now when the manager of the hotel said that animals were'nt allowed and Haku thought that she would have to let her go right there, the falcon still found a way to get to Haku. Haku had decided a long time ago that she would keep this bird of pray as a pet. "Good girl."

The bird ruffled her feathers together and released a squeak from its beak. "Shall we go inside.... Tomo?" Tomo was the name she had given the bird. It meant a follower or companion. Tomo just dipped her head down, a bird's version of a nod. It was strange it seemed that Tomo seemed to understand human speech, for every time Haku spoke to her and asked a yes or no question Tomo would either dip her head or shake it, much like humans.

She walked inside with Tomo perched on her arm and closed the door behind her. She looked around. "Where can you sit down?" She noticed a small pole with a flag that had the kiri symbol on it jammed into the wall. She went over to it and ripped off the kiri flag and tossed it to the ground, she then let Tomo perch herself atop of the flagpole. "You can sleep there for now." Tomo just sat there, flicking her head in a multitude of directions, much like a bird would do.

Haku then walked to another door and opened it, the bathroom. It was shower time for her, she had been through too much crap today and it was about time that she finally washed it all off. She walked in but stopped when she heard the flapping of wings go past her ear, she looked up to see Tomo fly past her face and into the bathroom. The peregrine flew around in circles until she finally rested on a sturdy towel rack.

"You want to come in?" Tomo let out a high whistle and dipped her head. "Fine... but only because you're a girl falcon." Haku then closed the door behind her and fully stepped into the bathroom. It was quite large actually, must have been the master bathroom or something. She walked up to the sink where there was a giant mirror posted on the wall and slipped of her kimono.

With a sigh she was finally out of her clothes and was now naked, staring herself down in the mirror. She then began to unwrap the bandages that held down her breast, She had initially put it there so that it wouldn't reveal to others that she was a girl. But she also realized that taping back her chest helped in battle, it got them out of the way...so to speak.

With her chest out she looked at each boob with and inspecting eye, then grabbed them both. A sudden image of Naruto's smiling face entered her head. "I wonder whether or not he likes girls with C-cups." She said to herself as she gave her breast another experimental squeeze. Then she remembered the girl Naruto that was with, Larxene, her bust size was around C as well if not slightly bigger than Haku's.

She then heard the screech of Tomo on the towel rack. It was like the bird was bashing her for her dirty thoughts that they both knew she was thinking. "Oh can it Tomo." She said as she slid open the glass door of the huge walk in shower. She turned on the water, warm.

She leaned over onto the wall. Now was her time to think. _'Zabuza-sama is going crazy. What can I do. If I don't help him now he's going to get himself killed. But what can I do?' _

She stood like this for a few seconds letting the sounds of running water sooth her. What could she do to get rid of that mark of his forehead? Killing him was out of the question, and even if killing him wasn't as ludicrous as it sounded how could she? The guy was a basic war machine, she couldn't hold a candle to Zabuza right now.

Then it hit her, that guy. That person from the Saiki, Marlucia! It was him who did this to Zabuza, it was all because of him. He was the problem and he was the one that needed to die. She knew who needed to be killed, the question was....how was she supposed to kill him? If he could give Zabuza this much power than imagine the type of power he must have had...but still he was the one who had to die. She would make it a goal of hers to get rid of him.....or die trying. (50 cent sucks)

She stood up and faced the water head on and let it run along her face, she closed her eyes. This life was a life that she didn't like, but since she was with Zabuza-sama she could bear it. She had always wanted a more...stable life but staying with Zabuza didn't allow for that.

Her eyes snapped open. "I can still have that type of life..." she then thought about the offer that Naruto-ku-....Naruto had presented to her. What if.....she took it? Surely that meant a better life, but what about Zabuza-sama. She wanted to go but she didn't want to go without Zabuza.

_'I don't know how I'm going to save Zabuza-sama.' _She thought to herself. _'By what I've seen Marlucia isn't interested in Zabuza-sama, he wants something else. And it must have something to do with that copy ninja, what was his name....Kaka....kahashi, arashi....no no.....um Kakashi!' _Haku let out a mental gasp. _'Marlucia is after Kakashi...that must be it, he must want his sharingan.' _She didn't really no much of Kakashi, hell to say the least she barely knew anything about the man, but what she did know was that he was THE copy nin; the non-uchiha that possessed the sharingan. How he did, she would never know.....or never care.

That was what she had to do, find Kakashi..... she found him and she found the answer....according to her theory. Letting the water hit her for the final five minutes, she turned off the faucet and stepped out and grabbed her battle kimono which she had neatly folded on the toilet seat. She slipped them on, not before re-taping her chest with bandages, and went over to the balcony and opened the door. Tomo flew through and landed on the rail, she too stood on the rail. She took out from the inner pocket of the kimono her white hunter nin mask and slipped it on.

"Keep up, eh Tomo?" The falcon just dipped it's head and screeched loudly, Haku then jumped off the rail into the nighttime sky quickly followed by Tomo. The darkness shrouded her from view as her and her bird were gone in pursuit of Hatake Kakashi, the copy nin.

--

A lone silver-haired man stood on top of a platform, surrounded by a mob of people. That man was Kakashi and the mob were ninja who Kakashi had gathered up in hoped of formulating a plan, just in case Zabuza was not defeated. He was in a heavily lighted area that was filled with the incandescence of street lights and random lanterns.

He pinched his nose, perturbed by the many yells and shouts of the other nin.

"Who the fuck are you come here and try to lead us?"

"Yeah, fuck off you one-eyed prick! And while you're at it get down from that platform."

Honestly Kakashi was getting fed up with all these rude comments and what annoyed him even more was that they were made by mostly Chuunin and New Jounin. Some of the older Jounin in the crowd just stood there, they knew who he was.

"Shut up...all of you!" Kakashi yelled out making his voice boom out promptly silencing everyone. "You're ninja for Kami's sake, shut the hell up and act like it! Now I guessing that you al heard that announcement made in the center of this town yesterday."

"Shut the hell up." Yelled some one from all the way in the back of the crowd, obviously a coward. Kakashi decided to leave it on un addressed.

"Anyway..I gathered you all here to ask you this one question: who is willing to fight with that man? There was no reply... "anyone...anyone at all?"

Another voice sounded in the background. "Why don't you fight him you jerk?!"

"Because I already did, twice and I'm going to do it again." This comment caused a series of murmurs and 'no ways' to occur in the crowd. It seemed like the majority of the nin didn't realize who he was. "Good, now like I was saying; who alongside me, is willing to go up against Momochi Zabuza?" This comment caused a series of gasps to occur.

"What the demon of the mist? Hell no nobody who's in their right mind would want to go up against him!"

"I would, and you should too if you're not cowards!" Suddenly Kakashi felt a presence appear next to him, he turned around to see a white mask.

"You...!"

The masked person raised their hands up in defense, it was that same masked hunter-nin who took Zabuza away last time. "I mean you no harm....Hatake-san." The person knelt down. "But I'm am in dire need of your assistance."

"Hatake.." said a voice from the crowd," you mean Hatake Kakashi? The copy-cat ninja...oh shit sorry, I didn't know who you were!" This made everyone else nod in agreement and add in their own personal apologies. Kakashi waved it off and turned back to the masked nin.

"Anyway what's this about my help. You attacked me so why should I?"

"Because..I think I know how to get Zabuza to go back to normal." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Fine let's go..somewhere else......" He turned to the mob of shinobi. "Uh.....never mind...your assistance will no longer be needed." He scratched his head sheepishly before turning back and disappearing along with the hunter-nin.

They reappeared on top of a building, about a mile from where the mob was. It was still within eyesight however, as Kakashi could still see the ninja all beginning to walk away, they looked like tiny ants.

He turned to the hunter-nin. "First off, who are you and who are you to Momochi?"

The hunter-nin sighed heavily. "M-My name is Haku, I'm a Hunter nin and am originally from Kirigakure no Sato."

"Fine, you know who I am already so tell me...what's this plan of yours...oh and what's up with the bird." Kakashi said, as Tomo had just landed on Haku's shoulder without her so much as glancing at it.

"Oh...her name is Tomo, she's my pet falcon...she's not dangerous. But going on to more pressing matters, I think I know how to get Zabuza-sama back to normal. You may not know this but the reason for Zabuza's transformation is-"

Kakashi cut her off. "-Is because of a man named Marlucia Zerbast a member of a group of collectors called the Saiki. Zabuza called him and his current form is the end result."

"Okay then I guess that you do know. But my theory is that If we defeat Marlucia then Zabuza will return to normal, I think the only reason Marlucia's here is because he's after you...more specifically your sharingan."

Kakashi's eyes widened, but then settled down as he chuckled. They stood face to face to each other. "No no, you're only half right... he Is after a kekkei genkai, specifically a doujutsu." That information made Haku feel a little better, she knew that Marlucia wasn't after her, seeing as how her kekkei genkai wasn't a doujutsu. Then if not her and not Kakashi...then there was only one other person left. "He's going after the kekkei genkai of one of my students." Kakashi said.

"Naruto.." Haku said in a low whisper.

"What was that?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing, so who's this student of yours?"

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki, he's the real objective here. Marlucia is using Zabuza as a puppet in order to get to Naruto. Rest assure Zabuza had free will but deep deep down it's real Marlucia who is pulling the strings, he's the one in control right now."

"Hm...then that means, if we must defeat Marlucia then we first have to lure him out, but right now Naruto is the only type of bait that is available."

"Actually no Naruto is currently incapacitated at the moment, and until Zabuza looses that weird chakra Naruto cannot by any means be around Zabuza."

"So how can one lure Marlucia out? Without Naruto I doubt that Marlucia's going to come out." Haku crossed her arms and turned, her mask being instantly illuminated by a pale moonlight.

"Naruto's our only option." Kakashi said.

"What will happen if Naruto get's to close?"

"He runs the risk of going insane, when Zabuza showed up in town earlier today, Naruto practically went berserk and after that he shut down. I can't tell you the reason why so don't ask."

Damn, he knew exactly what she was going to ask.... oh well on to the next question. "Ok then if Naruto is on the battlefield and he goes insane, at that moment, I'd guess that Marlucia would come out and try to take Naruto away."

"My thoughts exactly-" Kakashi said and placed one hand in his pocket, "-If he's smart then he would have obviously planned to take Naruto when he was most vulnerable, and that's when Zabuza steps in. That weird chakra of his is the key to Naruto's vulnerability, obviously distance is a factor as well but that's not needs to be focused on. It'll be stretch but if we can lure out Marlucia out and defeat him right there then Zabuza's mark will disappear and along with that his demon-like chakra, thus curing Naruto of his insanity."

"Yeah that makes sense."

"Hey, why is it that you are so interested in helping us?" Kakashi suddenly asked bringing his gaze onto Haku.

That one caught her off guard, she really wasn't expecting him to ask that type of question. Haku sayed silent for a moment and then said. "Because there IS a bounty on his head and I doubt that I'll be able to bring him in if I fight him in that state. This isn't for your sake but for my own."

"Fine...that seems like a believable reason."

"Good, then where shall this take place?" Haku asked in a very professional tone.

"At the unfinished bridge near the edge of town." Haku nodded. "It'll take place tomorrow by noon." Of course Haku already knew when it was going to happen.

"Fine, then I'll meet at the bridge tomorrow, when you see me do not acknowledge me, I'm just the hunter-nin who was tracking down Zabuza." Kakashi nodded and in a flash of mist Haku was gone.

Kakashi then sighed. "Oh boy this is going to be one hell of a fight." He then jumped off the roof heading back to Tazuna's household.

---

"Ahhhh....I-I'm.....s-sorry...Larxene-san, I-I didn't ...m-m-mean too! It won't happen again." Sakura said as she was back up into the wall by Larxene.

"Oh really, what exactly was your reason for walking in there...huh?"

Sakura looked to her left then to her right, and clenched her teeth. "I just wanted to check up on him...and see why Kakashi told us not to go in there." She said nervously, the chuckled a bit.

"Hmph, I don't believe you I'll let you go for now but if you ever mention anything about what you saw to anyone, then your done for!"

Sakura violently shook her head up and down in agreement. "Y-Yeah you're right, I won't say anything and I'm sorry that I walked in on you...I didn't realize that you and Naruto were....." she blushed. "-in the middle of something."

"We weren't in the middle of anything!" Sakura cringed out of fear and nodded her head again. The pink-haired girl then placed her hands together in an apologetic way.

"Sorry." Larxene scoffed and turned away from Sakura, leaving the girl to slid down the wall petrified. It was not until Larxene had disappeared from view did Sasuke walk down the hall to see Sakura in her current state.

"What's up with you?" He said with his hands in his pockets, Sakura looked up at him, her eyes as big as basketballs. She was googly eyed and whimpering.

"Sasuke-kun." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm scared!" She then lunged for Sasuke but fell when he moved out the way. "Sasuke-kun" She then dashed at him.

"Hey...hey, what are you doing, ahhh get away!" Sasuke said as he ran down the hall, followed by Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun help me...Naruto's girlfriend is crazy!"

"If you need help then why are you chasing me?" He yelled while turning the corner. Sakura followed after him but when she turned the corner she came face to face once again with Larxene, Sasuke was already down the hall. Larxene's arms were folded and her eyebrow twitched rapidly.

"You said I was Naruto's...what."

"Heh...I said...." Sakura then spun around and sprinted back around he corner, but she once again came face to face with Larxene. _'My Kami this girl's fast!' _

"Now like I was saying before.... what did you just say? As a matter of fact don't tell me, just run." Sakura just nodded dumbly and headed off in the opposite direction. Just turned around and walked the other way and went down the stairs leading to the kitchen. There she saw Kakashi sitting down, leaning back in his seat. He looked pretty tired.

"Kakashi-san, any luck with gathering shinobi?" He tilted his head forward lazily, and shook his head.

"Nope... it seems like the ninja here are all cowards."

"No luck huh?"

"No.. but I did run into an interesting character while in town. A hunter nin, she said she wanted to join with us in trying to defeat Zabuza. But She discovered that it wasn't Zabuza that we need to defeat but it is in fact Marlucia who needs to be killed. That way we can get Zabuza out of that form and she can take him in for the bounty on his head."

Larxene leaned on the table Kakashi was sitting by. "But I know how Marlucia is, he's not the type of person to just be there at the start of a fight, he bee the one to wait until everybody is at their most vulnerable point, then catch them off guard and take what he wants and just leave."

"Yeah, we both guessed the same, so in order to kill Marlucia we need to lure him out and in order to do that we need bait."

"And what exactly is the bait.....?" Larxene said fearing the worst.

Kakashi sighed but sat in his seat and rested his elbows on the table. "Unfortunately we don't have another choice....we need to use........Naruto." Larxene's eyes widened, what was Kakashi thinking, they couldn't use Naruto as bait!

"That's insane, almost as insane as Naruto will be if he gets anywhere near Zabuza. Have you forgotten that Zabuza's also going to be on there?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No I didn't, and as crazy as it sounds Naruto is the only option we've got here. Look Marlucia's after Naruto, that we already know and you yourself already said it that Marlucia's the type of person who strikes when someone is at their most vulnerable point. Well if he sees Naruto going crazy then he'll obviously come and try to take him away."

It made sense, but the thought of seeing Naruto like that again was just a little bit too much for her. "I know but that's still not a good idea." Kakashi shook his head.

"It's the only idea."

"No it's not......instead of Naruto send me out there. They think I'm dead and I'm sure that Marlucia will try to kill me if he sees that I'm alive."

"And what if he does kill you, if he wants to then he will kill you. And then what...it's just me, that hunter-nin, and an insane Naruto."

"I know but....what if Naruto actually ends up going permanently insane?" Larxene then sighed.

"Do worry...he won't and the plan will work we just need to carry this out with expert precision."

"It won't work..."

"Hm....what?"

"It won't work....I don't think you know how strong Marlucia is..." Then Kakashi chuckled.

"No I don't think you know how strong I am." He gave her a disarming eye smile and then stood up and began to walk away.

"B-But...what about Naruto?" Kakashi stopped. "What about him, how do you think it's going to be like for him?"

"I'm afraid....that I can't answer that Larxene-san." He then continued on to go upstairs and into his room in order to get some sleep.

"Heartless bastard." Larxene said before she too walked upstairs. On the way to her new room she past Naruto's room which was her old one. She cracked open the door and poked her head inside. "You better be ready for tomorrow you perv." She whispered. Naruto slightly shifted but soon he remained still.

Larxene then closed the door and went to her own respective room.

--

(Mindscape)

"Hey Kyuubi....... what was I like when I went insane?" Naruto and Kyuubi sat in two comfortable plush chairs decorated with crimson linen. They were now in what Kyuubi labeled as his room in Naruto's mind. It was the same room Naruto had come to after his fight with Marlucia.

"Damn...what you were like....well you were crazy for one."

"Oh funny, really give me some detail."

"Alright, well your mind was extremely chaotic at that moment. You wanted to fight, basically that insanity turned you into a basic fighting machine. Plus you could stop laughing! I mean Kami, how much can one dude laugh. You were like a hyena out there."

"Really....hm, everything just went black for me, it was like I floating around in nothing but darkness." He shifted around in his seat and stared at the fireplace directly to his left and Kyuubi's right.

"So how did you like the hormone upgrade I gave you?"

Naruto growled and flicked a kunai at Kyuubi's head, hitting him directly on the forehead. "That was not funny in the least bit you asshole."

With a grunt Kyuubi pulled the blade out of his forehead. "Ow...damn you didn't really have to do that did you?"

"Yeah I did." Naruto watched as the wound on Kyuubi's head simply regenerated, new skin and bone replacing old skin and bone. "If ony that wound was permanent."

"Oh you don't really mean that."

"Fuck yeah I do! But still it was pretty fun to see that look on Larxene's face when I grabbed her." He chuckled a bit. Kyuubi suddenly sat up.

"UH-OH what's this....? Did Naruto-kun actually like touching Lar-chan...does he actually like her? Then it seems that I didn't even have to butt in after all!"

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Tch, don't get your hopes up you perv."

Kyuubi just chuckled loudly like Naruto had just made a joke. "I'm not a perv, I'm just heavily concerned with how you rebuild the Namikaze clan."

"Tch, yeah like I said you're a perv." Naruto said. His expression then got serious. "But Kyuubi, seriously, if I go insane again I want you to retain my memories for me and show them to me just in case I forget."

"Why..?" Kyuubi asked.

"Simple..." Naruto said, "-...because I want to know what it's like." Kyuubi gave Naruto a look that made the blond boy shift in his seat. "What...what the hell are you looking at?" Kyuubi just shook his head and smiled.

"Damn you know I don't know how you can say such things so easily. So let me get this straight you want to know what it's like to be insane?"

"Correct, you hit the nail right on the head. I want to know."

"You know I'm just going to stop right here and not tell you how weird that is."

"Hey what may be wierd for you can be opportunity for me." Naruto responded.

"What type of opportunity can arrive in a scenario like that, your going to be fucking insane." Kyuubi said. "But whatever, I'll do it if you seriously want to figure out what it's really like." He snapped his fingers and seemingly from nowhere a bottle of vodka appeared. He took a deep swig. With a satisfied grunt he said, "when you come back here again come to your memory banks and that's where you'll find the memories of your insanity."

"Glad you could help me out Kyuubi." Naruto said while standing up to leave.

"Yeah yeah, just get out, I want to go to sleep now."

"Fine." He said as he opened the door. "I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow..eh Kyuubi?" He laughed as Kyuubi just waved him off.

Naruto wondered though, why did he want to feel insanity, why did he want to know what inner chaos was like? To Naruto's surprise he was immensly aroused at the concept of feeling literal madness. But All he could do was wait, and who knew maybe he would go looking for Zabuza tomorrow?

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Yes I'm done with chapter ten. I'm kind of bouncy right now since it's new years eve today. Let me tell you that this was THE most annoying chapter to write! Ahh.....seriously this chapter's about as pulled out the ass as humanly possible. I can tell you how much random shit I was just throwing in this, like the whole Haku-Kakashi interaction was complete bullshit! It literally took me ten minutes to come up with that one. I can honestly say that for this chapter I was making a whole lot of crap up as I went....then wham bam, this is the result. Tell me how I did and don't be afraid to be brutally honest.

I won't cry like a little school or any shit like that so just let loose and give me what you got! And really tell me how my spelling and grammar was, That's one thing that I'm concerned about. So I'll end that on that note, be honest....but no so honest that it gets to the point of insulting me.

I'll take brutal critisicm but insults...not so much. Stuff like......"Your writing style is a bit mediocre and is lacking in a lot of areas." That I can take. But I won't take crap like "Dude I hate the way you write, you suck man, fuck you. People like you should get a life."....that I won't tolerate. But if you do insist on insulting me please do not get mad when I review you back and insult you.

Top five reviewer list. 

Crepusculum Angelus

Leaf Ranger

Icey Dragon flame

Malix2

Sir MIDNIGHT The Darkslayer

These are my five favorite reviews, It would do you well stop by their profiles to see what they've got, you might...no you will find so many kick ass stories on their page. Go on and I guarantee that you will find at least one story that's worth you while..believe me.

**aLeRt!: **Ok people here's the deal I want to get to two hundred reviews, you know as a New year's resolution....yeah new years. So with your help, and reviews it will be possible for me to make it past the magic number, two hundred....but you know two hundred isn't nearly as magical as it's older brother, five hundred....if ya catch me drift.

* * *

Hey I want you all to read these two stories, both of which come from two of my reviewers.

First one: WAR :By Reaper INI

Summary:On the day of sealing a Different Aftermath took place in order to prevent a future of desurction. Now with his family, bloodline, and his partner the Kyuubi Naruto will face off against his sworn enemy...His Brother. Naruto/Hinata Harem NarutoxBleach cross  
Naruto - Fiction Rated: M - English - Adventure/General - Chapters: 5 - Words: 27,129 - Reviews: 31 - Updated: 12-25-08 - Published: 5-17-08

This guy had a great story going on here, but the problem is that it's not getting that much publicty. Damn...so I want you to go onto his story page...because he's badass. And here's the thing he's a better author than I am, he has not one but two stories with more review counts than this one so check out this story. But don't forget who you're loyal to...if you stop reading my story I'll........never mind.

* * *

Second one: The New Hokage Of Konoha:By Narutak

Summary:When Naruto comes back to the village he tells Tsunade he wants to become hokage but she says he has to fight her again so read the book and figure out what happens in the will be surprised to see a character in my story.

Naruto - Fiction Rated: T - English - General - Chapters: 1 - Words: 845 - Reviews: 2 - Updated: 12-18-08 - Published: 12-18-08

He's pretty new at the whole fanfic thing and he's only eleven years old. As you can see the story is pretty staightforward so you don't have to ask what its about. He's not getting that many reviews so I decided to help him out. Go to his story page and tell him what you think, and like you do with me try to be brutally honest but not to the point that your reviews become insults. He's only a kid!

* * *

Ok that's all I wanted to say and Happy New Year!

Read and Review

Next chapter: uNsTaBlE Tactics

gRIM'S sTEPPIN' oUT


	11. UnStAbLe Tactics

Yeaaah boiiiii!

Yes our president is finally fucking black, this calls for a post-inauguration party! oh my gosh,...history has been made. Sorry it took long.

Chapter eleven has arrived...for those of you who craved it so badly. Um...okay let me see...there was something that was supposed to happen in this chapter.....okay I know this one.....Oh yeah a fight. This will be the chapter where Naruto and co. go head on with Zabuza and possibly Marlucia.....oh and what's this.....Haku's gonna get into some of the action? Well how kick ass is that! I could tell you who's going to fight right now...but I feel like being a douche bag right now...so I'll tell you this: That...No wait I'm not telling at all. I want you to be on the edge of all your seats with this chap...heheh.....and intend to do just that. You know certain parts of this chapter came to me from like the weirdest places ever. I mean I found inspiration in the most exotic places ever...I even got to a point where I was staring at a blank TV screen and then out of the blue I just snapped my fingers was all like...."That's it!" Yep I got some inspiration from a blank TV screen, here's a challenge. See if you can figure out where I put that inspiration of mine in this chapter. Oh and one other thing, the way the Zabuza fight begins is a little weird in my opinion, i was at a loss so I just pulled anything I could right out the..well you know, so bear with it.

Okay just to let you know you that bird that's like attached to Haku nowadays....yeah she's there for a reason....I won't tell you no! I'll act like a douche for now and let you find out....later

On with the story

Enjoy mutha fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

They reveal, they anticipate, they are prepared.

Zabuza chuckled madly..... his golden eyes bounced everywhere, in his head. He could barely contain himself....today was the day that he could finally get his revenge and slaughter Hatake Kakashi. With this power nobody could stop him..... he had strength, speed, and an enormous amount of chakra. From his standards he was vastly more powerful than anybody in that small, pathetic little town.

"Kakashi just you wait....I rip your head off." He said to himself quietly and then chuckled. The ex-kiri nin sat on a large steel grate, his location. judging by the many machines of construction.. he was at the base of the unfinished bridge at the edge of town. He had been waiting there ever since he made his public announcement in that piece of shit town. He was able to rest easy knowing that Haku was in one of the special hotels in the town that served as a sanctuary missing nin who needed a place to crash.

They were actually pretty classy places...he might have been insane but no amount of insanity could stop him from making sure that Haku was at least comfortable for the night.

He sat with his head leaned down, next to him his huge zanbantou which he turned to and began to rub the flat of it's blade. "Hehehehe don't worry you'll taste blood by noon today." He then let out an abnormally high snicker which was odd for him, considering how deep his voice was. Maybe talking to giant blades made your voice get higher or something because the way Zabuza was laughing was just too freaky. Zabuza grabbed the side of his head and looked up while leaning back on the steel and watched the sky.

The sky was a pale blue, getting lighter as he brought his eyes to the skyline where he could see traces of orange and white that signaled the rising of the sun. The sky looked so peaceful...yet he felt so unstable...no scratch that he felt euphoric. That's when you knew that a person was crazy; if they could enter a state of euphoria just by sitting down.

All he had to do now was wait for them to come. He wondered how many other ninja would come, but it really didn't matter to him, he just wanted to get back at Kakashi. It was going to be him by himself, he had told Haku to sit this one out and that he wanted to take this as an opportunity to test how far his strength would go.

His eyes clicked to his left as he heard a very distinct sound, it sounded like someone was tapping on a glass behind him. He turned around to see Marlucia leaning on the same grate he was sitting on. The brown-haired man had in his hand a small shot glass made of ice, he twirled it around and around with his thumb and middle finger while he continuously tapped on it with his index finger. He then turned his head toward Zabuza and smiled.

"So...how's that upgrade working for you?"

"Just swell..heheh." Zabuza said turning around. "So while I'm fighting...what the hell are you going to be doing?"

Marlucia just stood up and walked around so that he was in front of Zabuza. "Oh nothing...." He smirked. " I'll just be waiting to claim my prize."

Zabuza would have lifted an eyebrow if he had them. "Hehehe, your prize better not be Kakashi...if you want his sharingan then you can take from him after he's dead." Zabuza then snickered some more.

"What?" Marlucia then laughed out loud maniacally. "I don't want the copy-nin's eye. This is what I'm after." Marlucia took his little ice shot glass and crushed it, drawing some blood in the process. He opened his palm and the tiny shards of ice began to float and reform themselves, spelling out a Kanji. "Read..." He said.

Zabuza waited for the ice to finish coming together before he read it aloud. "N-Namikaze?" He said then his eyes widened. There floating in mid-air and stained in Marlucia's blood was the kanji for Namikaze."Wait Namikaze....there's a Namikaze with Kakashi? I've heard of them before, they're supposed to be legendary. Tell me who is it...the little black-haired one?" Zabuza now had a smile on his face.

"No...the blond one."

"I see, the one who took out the oni brothers." I should have suspected that it was him."

"Yeah, apparently he possesses his clan's kekkei genkai and he's the only one who has it and we, the Saiki, want it."

"Then this should be interesting, so I take it you won't be fighting then......?" Marlucia began to walk of.

"Nope...I'm coming out when the Namikaze is vulnerable." He walked further down the bridge.

"You know that there's nothing over that way, that part of the bridge is incomplete."

"So!" Marlucia yelled while continuing to walk, a forceful wind blew and somehow when it hit Marlucia's body the Saiki member's body was blown away like it was dust. He left no trace that he was ever there.

"Nice exit." Zabuza said; he then leaned back over and looked at his sword. "Good that means more blood for me and you." The nuke-nin then started to cackle that high cackle once again, letting his laughter hang in the air.

---

Naruto stood on the shore of a beach not too far from Tazuna's house, in fact the old man's house was still within eye shot. The sounds of the waves gently crashing against the shore was the only thing he heard. The soft and repetitive motion of the water captured him in a confused trance. To him it looked as if the water was alive and had a mind of its own.

He made a single hand seal. "Kage bunshin no Jutsu." He said while releasing his fingers from their crossing position. Behind him poofed into existence two shadow clones, two identical ones. As pleasant as the ocean was it still couldn't stop him from training. He turned to the two clones and crossed his arms.

"You two..." He said while darting his eyes back and forth between clones. "...fight me. This is training so while we're fighting each other strike to kill." The clone on his left rested his hand on his hip and looked off to the side.

"Whatever." He said, causing Naruto to raise and eyebrow.

"Sure thing boss." Said the clone to his right, this was a response that Naruto wanted. Looks like the clone on his left was one of those defects that Kyuubi told him about, the ones who actually act on their own and not according to what their creator told them. Of course if the defect didn't listen then Naruto could always destroy him but that was beside the point.

"Now that you know what to do..." Both clones in front of him got into their taijutsu stances and a smirk appeared on the face of the defect. "..then do it." said the real Naruto. Instantly the defect clone on Naruto's left charged in with a lightning quick palm thrust to Naruto's chest, which he dodged by stepping back. But before he could react the second second clone was on him and hit him across the gut followed by and knee to the face that sent him flying back into the water.

Naruto hit the submerged sand of the shallow water with a crash then he slowly stood up, the two clones just stood their; one with a face of pure glee and the other emotionless. "That's what I like to see!" Naruto said as he went through several hand seals. " Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!" (Water release: water dragon projectile technique)

A large bubble of water formed above Naruto's head; two glowing yellow eyes snapped open as the bubble took the form of a dragon and launched itself at the two clones. As the dragon approached them both clones jumped out of the way and scattered like pigeons. One went left and the other went right.

Naruto's eyes flashed orange as he activated his geostigma. A smile crept on to his face. "Split!" He yelled out, and right before his ferocious attack collided with the sand the water dragon split into two separate and smaller ones that lunged themselves at the respective targets. "Stigmata technique: Tsuin Suiryuudan no jutsu" (Twin water dragon projectile technique)

The two identical dragon chased after both clones fiercely, they danced and hopped about the sand like little insects. "Is that the best you can do?" Said Naruto while he watched his two clones frantically dash about, but his smile left his face when he saw his defect clone stop and face the dragon head on, his eyes flashed orange and with a quick flick of his wrist he dispelled the dragon into nothing more than mere mist.

"Whatever you can do I can do." He said as he lunged at Naruto, who quickly dispelled his other dragon leaving his other clone free to attack and prepared himself to retaliate. The defect came in with unnatural speed and struck out with his foot; Naruto blocked his and quickly stepped forward and bashed him back with his elbow. The defect stepped back and came back in with a spinning backhand. Naruto ducked down just in time for the blow had just missed him by a hair's breath; he then blocked an uppercut by grabbing hold of his defect clones arm which he then used to pull him in and throw him the opposite way and several feet away from him.

He looked down, noticing that his shadow was getting unusually large. Quickly Naruto looked to see his other clone coming down at him with a kunai. With fast reflexes he jumped back, allowing his clone to crash into the sand promptly scattering a cloud of dust into the air. The clone then jumped out of the cloud with the kunai still in his hand. Naruto ducked a vertical slash then a horizontal one. Soon he was forced into a rapid game of slash and dodge; he was ducking left and right. His clone soon stopped slashing and took to stabbing at him, this caused Naruto to enter into a series of small back steps.

"Come on boss..... you should have more in you right? After all if I can do it you can too." This caused the wrinkles in Naruto's forehead to come out of hiding. He too pulled out a kunai and with great dexterity he parried his clone's blow; then he spun around and slashed him across the arm, drawing some blood. Next he struck directly straight, aiming right for his neck. His clone was definitely a goner, even if he could take up to fifty hits there was no way that he could survive such a fatal blow. That's what Naruto thought until his plan was foiled and his defect clone, seemingly coming from nowhere, grabbed his arm and held it in place right before he was about to dismember his other clone.

"Sorry buddy no room for casualties here." His eyes glowed orange and Naruto was sent flying back by a wave of air produced by his defect clone. He landed on his back and his eyes widened when he saw the shadowed figure of his clone high in the air about to apply his boot to his face. Naruto couldn't tell whether or not it was his defect clone or not but that didn't matter, all that mattered was getting out of the way. Naruto rolled to the side just before his clone's knee crashed into the ground. His eyes were their normal blue with a tint of orange so he knew that that wasn't his defect clone.

As he came to a stop Naruto held up his arms and blocked a follow up kick by his normal clone. He then tripped him and while his was in mid-air gave him an uppercut that sent him flying into the air.

There was a harsh yell from behind him and he turned and ducked dodging his defect clones surprise attack. With a smirk Naruto stepped in and placed both palms on his clone's chest and with a steady flow of air blasted him back in the direction of his second normal clone.

_'This would be so much easier if they couldn't use my techniques.' _Naruto thought to himself, but he was driven out of his thoughts when he saw his two clones grab hold of each other in mid-air. _'What the hell are they doing?' _He thought to himself as both clones began to make intricate hand seals in the air. _'It seems as if they're learning, and are picking a different strategy. Kyuubi is this another perk?' _

**"You got it, I forgot to mention that I tweaked your clones so that if they ever come against an opponent that they can't beat they won't stick to your fighting style. Instead they will adapt and develop their own fighting style to counter their opponents." **Naruto gave Kyuubi a mental nod.

_'Thanks but did you have to make them so good?' _There was no response from Kyuubi. Instead all he heard was the voices of his two clones. The normal clone yelled out: "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" (wind release: great breakthrough) He and the defect clone switched places in the air, placing the defect behind the normal clone and he blew out a huge gale of wind. Then the defect through took out a shuriken and threw it into the torrent of air, he then screamed out: "Shuriken Kage bunshin no jutsu!" (shuriken shadow clone technique) Suddenly the shuriken split into two, then four, eight, sixteen. In less then two seconds Naruto was looking at a wall of over one hundred and fifty wind enhanced shuriken. They blocked his field of vision and he could no longer see his two clones nor the sun itself.

From behind the wall of bladed weapons he could hear the sound of one of his clones yelling to him. "Hey boss, is that the best you got." It was faint but he could still here his voice. Naruto simply stood there, waiting for his doom to approach him, not making a single movement not even a twitch.

Naruto narrowed his eyes then closed them. Meanwhile in the air both clones had taken to hovering, using the geostigma to control the air around them to stay suspended. Then there was a loud crash filled with the sounds of tiny objects hitting the sand. The attack scattered dust everywhere and had created a ten foot crater in the sand. Cutting off the flow off air both clones looked at each other and dropped down to the ground; they then walked over to Naruto's body which laid motionless in a blanket of shuriken, most of them were stained with his blood.

The defect clone walked over to his boss and kicked his head three times. "Hey you think we got him?" He said nonchalantly, when he got no response from his "brother" he quickly turned around and his eyes widened. The reason his brother had not responded was because the real Naruto was standing directly behind him and currently had his hand rammed through the clone's heart. "You bastard." said the heartless clone before Naruto extracted his hand from his body leaving him to fall to the sand, but he evaporated into nothing before he even hit the ground.

Then Naruto stuck a finger up. "Fool, why would you let your guard down so low like that, if you really 'got me' then you wouldn't be hear right now." The defect gritted his teeth but then turned his snarl into a smile.

"No wonder you're the boss, I can't believe I let my guard down like that." He let out a deep chuckle but then let out a loud grunt when felt the something grab his leg causing him to stumble forward. He turned around and looked to find that the Naruto that WAS on the ground had gotten up and latched onto his leg.

The fake Naruto then plunged his hand through the defect clone's chest, causing him to spit up some blood. "A s-shadow clone?" He stuttered

"Yeah, I can't believe that you let down your guard like that." said Naruto before letting out a deep laugh of pure glee.

"Hey boss.."

"Hm, what?"

"Fuck you." Then both clones disappeared in a cloud of dust, leaving Naruto with a smile of his face.

"Whew that made me feel better." Naruto said before he felt something inside of him ping. It was like a bell went off or some rang a door bell. "Whoa so that's what it feels like to gain experience from shadow clones." It was true he did feel a bit stronger, it felt weird though; that experience came at him all at once. Sure it was a great way to train but if used improperly he could very well cause himself to blackout.

"Holy crap!" Naruto flicked his head to the sound of the voice. There he saw Sakura standing pretty far away from, the fact that he could hear her from all the way over there meant one of two things: either his hearing was REALLY acute or Sakura really was a banshee. The pink-haired girl stood there with her mouth open, jaw-dropped, stupefied.

Naruto walked up to her, brushing himself free of any leftover sand. "How long were you standing there?" He asked while walking past her.

"U-Uh long enough....I saw the entire thing....Naruto you're amazing!" Naruto just scoffed and waved her off.

"I don't need any compliments from you....so what exactly do you want?" Quickly she turned around and followed Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei said that he needed to see you and your girlfr-..." She shut her mouth as Naruto gave her a glare that caused her to stumble forward. She slapped her hands over her mouth, realizing what she was about to say.

"She's not my girlfriend okay Haruno."

"But why were you and her....?" She stopped again when Naruto gave her another salty look. "Anyway......Like I was saying Kakashi sensei wants to see you and...Larxene-san..." She pointed out to Tazuna's household far-off into the murky distance.

Naruto sighed and placed his hands in his pockets. "Sure...thanks. And about that whole thing that you saw..."

"I know...I didn't see anything." Sakura said with a nervous smile. Naruto nodded and then disappeared. "Sure I didn't see anything but you two about to GET IT ON!" Suddenly Sakura was hit in the head with a seashell. "Ow...how did he hear me.....?" She said as she slowly rubbed her head and began to walk back to Tazuna's house.

--

All was peaceful for Haku at the moment, the sun was out, the air was clean and every few seconds a pleasant breeze would brush past her and tickle the back of her neck. She leaned over the railing of her hotel room balcony, wrapped in the complementary bath robe that the hotel provided and looked down to the streets below. There she could see obs of people all rushing to the center of town, were Gato was being held, slung up on a wooden pole much like he had done to many others. Yep....perfect.

Just the thought of what the town's people were doing to the man right now was enough to get her all giddy. She felt so great that she actually let her hair loose, most of the time a portion of it it was tied away in a little bun at the back of her head, but today she let it all out and allowed it flow freely and move according to the wind.

As the air caressed her skin she thought about something: why was she so happy today; she knew what was going to occur around noon. Zabuza would be fighting today...no Zabuza wouldn't be fighting. The person that she had seen just yesterday was not Momochi Zabuza, he was a blood thirsty monster. Sure the real Zabuza was often referred to as the demon in the mist, what he had become now beat his former self by a long shot.

In her mind she came up with one simple conclusion: that person was not Zabuza, he was something else....something insane. The bitter cold sting of the rail slightly burned her arms, leaving them both with slight tingling sensations that ran up and down her skin.

A sudden gust of wind blew her hair in all directions, mostly into her face and into her mouth. That brief gale brought her back to reality, what was there to be happy for?

Someone was going to die today; she herself hoped that it would be Marlucia but she very well knew that it could be herself or those nin from Konoha who were the ones that died this day. But one person that she would make sure to keep alive was Zabuza.

Really.....was there anything to be happy for today? Another gust of wind locked her face in a tight embrace and she closed her eyes to keep any rogue strands of hair from flying in. Right now all she could see was the dark inner walls of her eyelids.

"Hey..... how's it going, why the long face?" said a familiar masculine voice. Haku's head in jerked at the sound of the person's voice; her first thought was that Zabuza had come to visit her before the fight.

Slowly she turned her head and opened her eyes, expecting to see the unruly bush of dusty black hair that was Zabuza's. Instead what she saw was not black hair, but blond hair. She moved down to the face and let out a quick gasp once she realized who it was; there right in front of her and staring her down with orange tinted blue eyes was Naruto.

He stood on the rail with a bored expression. Her face gained a red visage as the blood rushed to her face and she jumped back with a massive blush. "Naruto-k..uh Naruto-san...uh how...d-did...you..?"

"Find out where you were?" Naruto cut in. He then smiled making her face light up until it practically glowed. "My sensei Kakashi met with you yesterday and apparently he followed when you came back here." Haku just stood silent. First of all how did he follow her without her noticing anything and second, given the fact that he DID follow her, why was Naruto here?

"Oh.." was all she said in response. After a momentary pause Haku began again. "Wait, why are you here?" She asked, Naruto jumped off the rail and onto the balcony, now they stood eye to eye.

"Because, I wanted to see you." He said, causing Haku's breath to pick up speed. Her body temperature seemed to rise about ten degrees higher and she felt her heart skip a beat. Why did he want to see her? She couldn't think of anything to say so she just said the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"...W-hat....for.." she said, _'Oh great Haku how stupid do you sound right now?' _She thought to herself, _'what if he....?'_

"I wanted to know whether or not you changed your mind about my offer." He said. Nope, what Naruto had said was completely different from what she thought he was going to say. Her breath slowed down as well as the rest o her body functions and she just let out a deep sigh. Why did he have to ask that question?

She had already told him that she wouldn't leave without Zabuza, but for some reason she didn't want to decline his offer again. There was a part of her that actually wanted to go and escape her current life of running and instability. But still, she still couldn't leave without Zabuza-sama.

"No..I'm sorry I haven't changed my mind. I won't go without Zabuza and I doubt that Zabuza-sama would want to come with you." Naruto just sighed and looked of to the side so that the side of his face was facing her.

"That's too bad." He said as he turned back to her and stepped closer. Of course this caused Haku to take a step back as well; her face once again glowed a bright cherry red. In his mind Naruto linked himself with Kyuubi.

_'Hey Kyuubi, didn't you say that that mass production of testosterone in my body would last only about two hours?'_

**"Oh...did I say that?" **Kyuubi said with a snicker, which made Naruto wonder just what the hell was so funny. **"Well what I meant to say was two days, I thought that you would be mad if I had told the truth, so I lied." **That just ticked Naruto off even more, honestly did Kyuubi really think that he would believe him? The freaking pseudo demon was setting him up for disaster. It was simple...: an involuntarily horny Naruto plus a cute girl like Haku equaled disaster. _'Kyuubi.' _Naruto thought to his inner half demon. _'I'll get you back...later.' _"Haku-chan... tell me why do you follow Momochi Zabuza?"

The question caught Haku off guard, she really wasn't expecting him to ask a question like that. And besides she had already told him the reason.

"I already told you because he saved my life." She said bluntly, Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead against his head.

"No no, WHY do you follow him as in what do you think of him. From what I've heard and read he's a heartless bastard who only knows how to kill. A scowl appeared on Haku's face; as much as she had liked Naruto in her own little secret way she couldn't just let him say those things about the man who saved her life, whom she had looked at as a father.

"W-Wait, He's not a bad as you think."Naruto shook his head and shrugged.

"That's just what I've heard." He said. "I won't judge solely based on rumors, let's just drop this topic OK?' She slowly nodded and continued to gaze at the boy, not knowing what to say next. Her stomach coiled into a tight ball as the atmosphere between the two became slightly awkward well for Haku anyway. Then, slowly, Naruto turned to the glass doors that led off the balcony and into the room.

"You are aware of the battle occurring, right?" He paused waiting for her to nod and she did, he then continued. "Then I'll take it that you know what to do...correct?"

"Yes, I know, even though we are working as a team I will still be working by myself. I won't be coming out until Marlucia arrives so you will have to find a way to lure him out."

"We already have." Naruto quickly responded; then a high-pitched squeal invaded the air, causing both of them to quickly look up. There they saw a blue-brown-white falcon circling overhead. Naruto recognized it as the same one from when they met in the forest.

"That bird...again?"Haku giggled and continued to look up.

"Yep...I decided that having a falcon for a pet would be pretty cool so I kept her." She released from her mouth a high whistle that caused Naruto to cover his ears.

"Damn...how the hell can you make that sound." The falcon returned the call with a call of its own that sounded much like the one Haku had produced. It then titled into a dive and flew straight onto the railing of the balcony. There the peregrine rested aiming it's eyes directly at Naruto felt as if the bird was telling him not to do anything or else it would rip out his eyes. Then Naruto wondered, could animals sense if humans were horny or not?

"Her name's Tomo..." Haku said while looking down at the ground.

"Hmm...cute...."Naruto said while going to touch Tomo's beak but pulled back when the falcon reared her head back and snapped at his fingers. "Stupid bird." He said in a low tone, Tomo let out an angry screech at Naruto's whispered comment. "Anyway like I said we already have a way....we plan to lure him out with.....me"

Haku just looked at Naruto with a confused expression. He then decided that it was time for him to explain. "It's simple, Marlucia wants me and he'll only come out for me and me only. So its simple we will use me as bait; at that point when I'm most vulnerable we can only hope that Marlucia will come for me. That's when we have our chance to kill him and that's when you can lend a hand and possibly restrain Zabuza from causing anymore trouble.

Slowly Haku nodded. Doesn't it seem like a bit of a desperate plan?" She arched her eyebrow and tilted her head to the side.

"Yes...that's exactly what it is but we don't have another choice. We don't have enough time or enough resources to come up with a solid strategy that will definitely get rid of Marlucia." Naruto said

"I suppose your right...but what if your plan doesn't work? What if we can't defeat Marlucia even with our combined powers?" Naruto just chuckled.

"You know you worry too much....Haku-chan." He said; a sly blush crept onto Haku's face after hearing what Naruto had called her.

_'Chan...'_

_'Chan....'_

_'Chan.......' _The sound of his voice rang inside of her head, reverberated against her inner walls and constantly repeated itself over and over again until Naruto snapped his fingers in front of her. He called her 'chan', that meant that even though they just met he had already considered her to be a close friend.

He opened up to her and she opened up to her; she that hard to believe however. Normally it was hard for her to open up to people for fear that might actually be hostile toward her. After her family died she had always been like that...and in all but a day she had opened up to Naruto without even the slightest bit of fear.

Haku realized that in such a short time she had become infatuated with Naruto for some reason or another. Maybe she really did want to go with him, Zabuza or no Zabuza.

"UM...Naruto... what do you think will happen if I go to Konoha without Zabuza?" This caused Naruto raise an eyebrow and smile.

"Oh what's this...ever so interested now are we?" Haku took a step back.

"N-no..I-I just was wondering..that's all." Her head was tilted and she twiddled with her thumbs, circling them around each other like two mating birds intertwined. The motion made Naruto narrow his eyes, it struck him as familiar...like he had seen someone do it before. He decided that it was of no importance, however.

"Well if you ask me...I really don't know what will happen. I can't answer that question, that can only be answered if you come with me." He moved in closer to her...backing her up all the way to the glass framed doors that led to her balcony. "So...come with me," He leaned his hand against the doors behind her and came in that his face was about two inches from hers. ", answer that question yourself." He said.

Haku's heart pounded in her chest; Naruto was literally inches from her face. At that moment everything was silent for her, time stood still in her mind. All she saw was the person in front of her; she had no clue what to say to him though. If things continued on like this than she was sure to faint, it was going to happen any second now......aaaany second now...."

"Namikaze, what the hell are you doing?" said a female voice. Naruto snapped his head up and turned it to look at whoever it was that called him. To both there surprises it was Larxene. She stood on the railing with her arms folded and an annoyed expression on his face. "You're such a perv." she said.

"Am not." Naruto said before moving away from Haku and walking over to Larxene. "So what do you want?" He said; he was forced to look up at her for her height while she stood on the railing exceeded his normal height.

"Kakashi wanted me to get you, why did you just dart off like that?"

"Because I had something that I need to discuss with our friend Haku here." He gently swayed his arm and outstretched it toward Haku.

"Yeah sure.....you wanted discuss something with her. I don't buy that crap...what exactly were you two doing?" Naruto chuckled.

"Nothing..." Larxene stepped down from the rail and walked closer to Naruto.

"Don't lie...from what I saw you were trying to make a move on her.... like you did with me." Larxene responded. Naruto just laughed and turned to Haku who was sitting down.

"See you later, and after this fight at noon is finished I hope that you will be able to give me an answer on whether or not you'll join us." With that he turned and disappeared, causing Larxene to yell out in anger and disappear in pursuit of the blond ninja.

Haku just sat there for a few seconds, dazed from what just happened. It was all too random. Thoughts of what Naruto said to her before still sat in her mind. Zabuza wasn't a demon but he did act like one, which made her think about how the rest of her life would be like. The dark-brown haired girl shook her head, she now knew the answer. Today she would fight alongside Naruto and then after that.......

she was going to Konoha........with Zabuza.

---

(Two hours later at the bridge)

Kakashi stood at the beginning of a large unfinished bridge, the air was misty and wet. The atmosphere stood still, suspended in its own space and filled with stagnant suspense. He looked up, in the air; the clouds had parted and the sun was out. If that was true then how come this place felt so...dead...?

He looked over to his left and saw Tazuna, then in front of him and saw dozens of workers and bridge builders who all worked under Tazuna.

"What's wrong with them?" Kakashi asked to Tazuna. "Don't they know what is going to happen here today?" It was like Zabuza's announcement went on unheard. It should have been clear that he said that the feral man said that he wanted to have a battle at this bridge and nowhere else; if so then why were people still walking around the site as if Zabuza had never appeared in the middle of town?

"I really don't know what the hell is wrong with them, they must so tired of the way they live that they are actually putting there lives on the line in order to hurry and finish it. Their logic is flawed but their ambitions are correct and so is their drive. Even so they can't continue working here at this site until the battle is over."

Kakashi very much agreed with Tazuna, if these people were put in Zabuza's destructive path then they would all surely die. "Then how do you suppose we get them to leave?"

Tazuna chuckled and rested his hands on his hips. The old man laughed into the air. "You forget, Hatake-san, I'm the master bridge builder these workers have to listen to me!" Then the gruff old man waved and walked over to the crowd of hard working bridge builder, leaving Kakashi alone to watch him work his magic.

He felt a gust of wind and then heard the sound of a pair of feet hitting the ground. He turned his head to see Naruto standing behind him, clad in black. "What is all this....why are all these people here, did they not hear what Zabuza said yesterday?" Naruto walked beside Kakashi.

"Yeah these people know exactly what they're getting into...yet they still came in order to work. They must want to complete this bridge that badly, it goes to show you just how much of a tyrant Gato was.'' Kakashi then scratched his head and sighed. " I wonder what they did with that guy." He just shrugged it off.

The faint heat of the sun beamed down on the backs of Naruto and Kakashi's necks when their attention was suddenly drawn in by the sound of Tazuna's voice. They both snapped their heads to the sound of the man's loud 'excuse me'. There they saw him standing in the middle of the bridge atop a steel crate so that he overlooked every worker in the crowd.

There he held out his hand, suspending it in the air. "Excuse me...everyone...stop working!" He yelled out. All heads turned, people dropped whatever they were carrying, some just stopped dead in their tracks. Instantly the crowd was filled with an abundance of confused murmurs. Now that the master bridge builder had everyones attention he continued. "I want everyone to listen up, all of you need to go home...now!"

This sparked a multitude of 'huh's' and 'why's' in the crowd of working men. "I know you all are desperate to finish the bridge but you must go hime. I know you all heard that announcement yesterday so you all know that there will be a fight here."

"Why should we go?"

"Because if you stay here you will die!" Tazuna responded with anger in his voice. "That man who appeared was the demon of the mist, Momochi Zabuza. If he catches you here then he WILL NOT hesitate to kill you all with one swipe of his blade! But by all means if you think finishing this bridge is worth taking on the demon of the mist then by all means stay, but remember one thing: that you're not going to be able to complete this bridge if you're dead!" That seemed to seep through the workers' thick ass skulls as they all turned heads toward each other and discussed the matter among themselves.

That is until one worker raised his hand and said: "Ok you've convinced me, there's no way in hell that I'm taking on Momochi Zabuza!" After that the man ran through the crowd and out past the main entrance of the bridge site. He was soon followed by dozens of other men who thought the same way he did: which was smart.

Once the crowd of men was gone Tazuna stepped of the crate and walked over to Kakashi and Naruto. "That's how you do it." He said proudly. "Uzumaki-san what are you doing here?"

"I just came to check up on things here, and by the looks of it, everything is clear." Naruto said.

"Oh good..if that's all then Naruto would you mind doing me a favor?" Naruto stepped away from Kakashi ever so slowly when the cyclopean jounin asked him the question.

"And what the hell would that be?" Naruto asked.

"Take Tazuna-san home, we don't need him here as of now, he will only get in the way when Zabuza arrives." Naruto sighed and juts nodded.

"And I wanted to stay here and wait for fucking Momochi...I knew that some shit like this would happen. Whatever..old man let's go." Tazuna put his face in into a scowl.

"Hey brat don't call me old!"

"Then don't call me a brat." Naruto responded calmly.

"Just go!" Kakashi said, cutting them both off. Naruto let out another sigh and out his hand on Tazuna's shoulder.

"Fine...we're out of here." Naruto said before both him and Tazuna disappeared in a flash, leaving Kakashi alone to await the time of Zabuza's arrival.

Kakashi walked out into the middle of bridge site that he was actually standing in the middle of the bridge. He tilted his head back.

"Alright, I know you're there...you can come out now." He said into the air. The sound of someone chuckling completely surrounded Kakashi as in it sounded as if it came from everywhere at once. Zabuza.

"I'm surprised you knew that I was here, copy-nin. Then if you knew I was here, you must have also sent your student away with the intention of fighting me alone."

"Just show yourself...you scum."

Oohh, tough words from one so weak!" Kakashi was suddenly aware of a presence behind him, he whirled around and slipped out a kunai just in time to block the blade of Zabuza's sword. There Kakashi and Zabuza stood, blades locked in a struggle for dominance. Then Kakashi actually looked at the man's face and his eyes went wide.

Standing in front of him wasn't the same demonic Zabuza that he had fought before but instead it was the original Zabuza who stood before him. Kakashi couldn't believe what he was seeing, Zabuza had changed back!

"How...did you?" Kakashi wasn't expecting this, he had expected Zabuza to come looking like a fucking monster instead he just looked like a really freaky ninja.

Zabuza chuckled. "Surprise surprise Hatake, turns out that I can switch between my forms." Zabuza let out a deep chuckle. "So even if you beat me in this form, I still have reserve power!" Kakashi huffed and jumped back in order to gain some distance between the two.

_'No wonder he was able to suppress his chakra like that, it still didn't fool me but he could have killed any of those worker's if he wanted to!' _Kakashi was pulled back from his thoughts as he saw Zabuza charging with him; the nuke-nin swung at Kakashi with a horizontal slash, which Kakashi ducked. Kakashi then flipped his kunai over so that the blade pointed outward and rammed in against the flat of Zabuza's zanbantou, promptly deflecting the weapon and succeeding in knocking Zabuza off balance and onto one foot.

"Take this!" Kakashi said right before he thrust his kunai out, catching Zabuza in the ribs. With a grunt of pain Zabuza let go of his blade, launching into the air with a simple flick of his wrist. He then grabbed Kakashi's kunai hand and quickly pulled the blade out before spinning around and tripping Kakashi onto his back.

Just then gravity did its work as Zabuza's blade fell back down and right into his right palm, which he then brought down with one arm onto Kakashi, but before the steel could connect with flesh Kakashi disappeared from Zabuza's vision, leaving him to miss his sword and crack the ground where Kakashi once lay.

Zabuza looked up, feeling Kakashi's presence above him...the silver jounin was coming down with an axe kick hard kick that hit Zabuza on the head and brought him to the ground, allowing his face to crash into the bridge surface.

Still with his foot on Zabuza's head Kakashi rested his hands in his pocket. "Zabuza, transform, you're not as strong as I am without transforming. If you don't change you'll surely get yourself killed, I want to enjoy myself with a fight that actually lets me go all out." The Zabuza began to laugh, really fucking loud.

"With his face in the ground and his hand barely clutching his sword the man said: "You know Kakashi....it's funny."

"What?"

"It's funny that you want me to transform, what are you looking for, someone who can give you a challenge?"

"....yeah...I am."

Then Zabuza laughed again. "So...funny!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kakashi said.

"It's funny because...you sound almost exactly like me." Kakashi froze for a second. He did sound outrageously similar to Zabuza, he sounded battle-hungry. But the reason for his feral words weren't so that he could enjoy himself, it was actually a trick to get Zabuza to waste his energy while fighting in his normal form. Kakashi knew very well what he was doing, if he kept taunting Zabuza with all these superior remarks then the man was sure to let his anger get the best of him and fight blindly.

That should have been enough to push Zabuza into transforming.

"Yeah...I sound like you; I really didn't notice. But it doesn't really matter to me, if you're not going to be serious then how about you just die!" Kakashi reared his foot up, placing his heel in the air and past his head. With great speed the Kakashi plunged is heel toward the back of Zabuza's head.

Kakashi hit, and when he did it cracked the surface of the bridge and kicked up a small cloud of dust. When it cleared, surprisingly Zabuza...was.....holding onto Kakashi's foot. "It seems like you're serious now aren't you?" The man just laughed and grabbed Kakashi's foot even tighter, he reared his body back and flung Kakashi toward the side of the bridge.

But right before he was about to go off the edge Kakashi flipped and grabbed the railing, then pulled himself up so that he stood on the rail. Zabuza grabbed his sword and charged at Kakashi, scraping it along the floor.

_'Come on...that's it cha__rge at me!"_Kakashi made a few quick hands seals, ending with a tiger seal. He then jumped over Zabuza, placing himself upside down in the air. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu! (Fire style: Mythical fire phoenix technique) Kakashi slipped down his mask and placed one hand over his mouth. He then blew out a furious flurry of fireballs, raining them down on Zabuza.

Zabuza blocked them by holding out his sword and intercepting them with the flat of his blade. As Kakashi past overhead, the metal of Zabuza's Zanbantou grew hot and glowed red from the intense heat of the fireballs raining down on him. Kakashi landed behind Zabuza and before the man could react he disappeared; he then reappeared behind him and kick him in the side, breaking a couple of ribs and sending him flying.

"That's payback for what you did to me back at your hideout." Kakashi said before he disappeared again. Zabuza had just finished tumbling when he felt something raise him and knock him into the air. He grunted from the pain; his vision was full of little black dots that flew everywhere, but almost as fast as the dots had appeared they left and Zabuza was able to see again, and all he saw was Kakashi in above him about to smash his fist into his face.

With great agility Zabuza rolled to his side and blocked Kakashi's punch. The silver-haired nin flipped over as well and kicked Zabuza in the back, but before he get away Kakashi grabbed hold of him and pulled him back.

All Zabuza felt was someone wrapping their arms around his in a tight embrace, and suddenly he was upside down; then they both fell. They gained speed as Kakashi held Zabuza tight preparing to drive him into the ground with a suicide pile driver. Closer and closer did they get to the ground.

"Maybe you'll fight seriously with this!" Yelled Kakashi as he and Zabuza smashed into the ground, creating a crater so wide that it extended out along the entire width of the bridge. The impact of the pile driver kicked up an impressive cloud of dust that scattered everywhere, obscuring from vision both men and preventing anyone from seeing the aftermath. All that could be seen was the rough edges of the crater that the suicidal move had created.

At this point in fight, they could have both been dead.

--

(Tazuna's house)

"Alright, we're here now let go of me!"

"What..we're here,...l-l-listen d-don't you ever take me anywhere with that type of speed again!" Naruto had just arrived with Tazuna, who was currently clinging to the blond boy's shoulders and shaking violently....really violently. He held onto the Naruto for dear life, afraid to touch the ground. His teeth clattered against each other and he damn well nearly pissed himself.

It seems that while bringing him home Naruto had traveled with a bit too much speed....Tazuna, apparently, wasn't able to handle it.

"Okay..now get the fuck off me! Damn...don't be such a baby."

"That's easy for you to say!" Tazuna said while getting off of Naruto, when his feet touched the ground he lost his balance and fell down. Naruto helped him up and the man began to groan loudly.

"What..?"

"I don't feel all too well..I think I gonna....mmph" Tazuna held his hand to his mouth in order to stop whatever it is that was about to come out from emerging to soon.

"Whoa, then if you're going to do that then you need to get to a sink or something. " Naruto went under Tazuna and raised him up on his shoulder, they both then walked through the front door, Tazuna his mouth the entire time.

There they saw Tsunami who was sitting on the couch.

"Oh N-Naruto-san you're back....where's-...oh my...father what happened to you?" Tazuna's appearance was vile and perturbing. She then turned her gaze to Naruto. "Wat did you do?"

Naruto dropped Tazuna on the couch near Tsunami then threw his hands up in defense. "Hey, hey..don't look at me it's not my fault that he can't take a little speed travel."

"He's not use to it...you shouldn't have come here so fast like that." She said in Tazuna's defense.

"Sorry, I was just bringing him home."

"Well thank you."

"No proble-....!" Suddenly Naruto turned around, feeling a dangerous chakra spike, it felt crazy, therefore it could only be one person. And it was pretty clear who that person was. Naruto swung his entire body around. Seconds later there was a loud crash that seemed to come from far away.

"Is there a problem?" Tsunami asked, unaware of what Naruto was feeling at the moment.

"I-I have to go, the battle has already started."

"WAIT-..." But Naruto had already disappeared. He reappeared on the roof.

"Lar-...!" He then felt another presence flash directly next to him.

"I'm here....what happened." Naruto pointed in the direction of the sound, where a flock of birds where flying form the forest. It looked like they were running from something. Larxene looked in the direction and here eyes widened when she felt saw a tiny tendril of dust rising from the bridge site.

"What, he's already fighting Zabuza?" She said.

"Yeah, that bastard's already fighting Momochi, and we have to get over there." Naruto was about to jump off the roof when he felt Larxene's hand on his shoulder.

"Hey are you sure you want to go over there, you'll almost definitely go insane again if you do."

Naruto sighed then smiled. "Don't worry I know what I'm doing."

"Okay." Larxene responded. "Hey don't move I've a quicker way can get there."

"Then shall we be on our way?" Larxene just chuckled at the question. She snapped her fingers and suddenly both her Naruto's shadows began to grow into one collective shadow, which then wrapped around them in a loose cocoon of darkness that began to whirl around them in a small funnel, a funnel where neither Naruto nor Larxene could see. Slowly the cocoon began to sink into its own shadow until there was nothing left.

--

(back at the bridge)

Naruto and Larxene rose from the ground in a small funnel of darkness. They stood about twenty feet from a large cloud of dust and by what they could see, a deep crater. Naruto rubbed his head feeling a bit uneasy from the mode of travel which he used to get here.

He looked over to Larxene with a disturbed expression. "What the hell was that, you can travel with shadows now?" He shook his head to shake the light-headed feeling he was getting right now out of his system. He now knew what Tazuna felt like.

"Yeah, its a technique I made using the shadows that allows me to travel through, they act sort of like portals for me. It's called Ryokousha (traveler), I'll explain more of it later..anyway-.." she turned her head to the now departing cloud of dust. "What the hell happened here.?"

The two heard a slight noise and they were suddenly aware of another presence. Haku suddenly flashed into sight, appearing next to Naruto. She had her white hunter-nin mask on.

"It's about time you two got here." She said. Naruto suddenly looked at Haku, which then made her looked back at the fading dust cloud. She was lucky that Naruto couldn't see the intense blush on her face, for her mask obscured such things from being seen.

"Haku...how long were you here?" He asked

"I've been here long enough to see the entire thing." She said.

"Then tell us what happened," Larxene said cutting in.

"Well, by what I've seen and heard, Zabuza-sama has been here the entire time, he was just waiting for the right time to catch Kakashi alone. But that's not all, he's back to his original form.

"What!"

"Yeah, apparently Zabuza-sama can switch between forms. That's going to put a big hole in our plan, but not to worry, we can still lure Marlucia out. It seems that Kakashi made quick work of Zabuza-sama's regular form....he'll have to go into his...other form now. "As much as it hurt Haku to speak about Zabuza as if he was her enemy she knew that in order for her to be efficient enough for this plan to work she would have to think like, as if she had never met Zabuza and not let her emotions get the best of her. With the type of situation they were in the only way to save Zabuza was to defeat Marlucia so there was no room for emotional error.

The three watched as the dust finally cleared ans settled until the aftermath of whatever Kakashi had done was visible. They saw a large crater, it looked to be about ten feet deep. There in the middle they saw what looked like Zabuza with his head stuck in the ground and his feet suspended in the air.

They saw Kakashi kneeling down at the edge of the crater, panting a bit. It was obvious that the attack that caused this crater was giving him a bit of fatigue.

Haku, looked at the site, a tear slid down her cheek, hidden from sight by her mask.

"Holy..shit." Was all Naruto could say. Kakashi lifted his head, and finally, he noticed them. The man shakily stood up and limped over to the three.

"You noticed huh?"

"Uh yeah, how the hell didn't we?" Naruto said to Kakashi. Kakashi then brought his gaze to Haku.

"You should go back to you hiding spot, I have a feeling that the battle has yet to begin. Only come out when Marlucia has come out, got it?" Haku just nodded and disappeared in a swirl of mist leaving nothing in her wake. Kakashi then turned to Naruto and Larxene. "You two be prepared to fight, I have a feeling that Zabuza's about transform. Naruto are you ready?"

Naruto nodded. "Good." And as expected, what Kakashi had said was about to come to pass. A deadly and foreboding chill overcame the bridge site as all three of them turned there attention to a certain spike of chakra that occurred near them. That chakra spike was coming from the crater where Zabuza lay.

They could see Zabuza's body as it began to glow a faint purple. His skin was getting paler by the second and his muscles began to expand and contract. It was not a particularly pretty site to say to say the least.

"He's transforming." Naruto said. Zabuza's body then dropped, placing the man on all fours, he then ripped his head out of the ground while yelling out. As his arms grew Zabuza gritted his teeth and they grew sharp.

This gruesome metamorphosis continued on as Larxene, Kakashi and Naruto watched on in shock. They had never imagined that the transformation would look like this. Haku wasn't all that shocked from her hiding spot, she had already seen this once before but it still bothered her nonetheless.

As Zabuza's painful wailing continued his eyes were wide open, but he didn't have any pupils, all that could be seen were the white surface of his irises. Suddenly, like static, Zabuza's piercing golden pupils faded into vision. After that his yelling stopped.

Pale, heavily muscled,a feral appearance and golden eyes. Zabuza had finished his transformation.

All was silent as Kakashi looked over to Naruto. The boy remained the same, it was as if nothing had happened. What was going on, last time Naruto came close to Zabuza in this form he went insane. Why was that now Zabuza's form had no effect on the boy.

They all heard a dreadful chuckle come from Zabuza's crater....then a wave of what felt like foul chakra. That's when Kakashi noticed Naruto cringe from the wave of energy. Again another wave of chakra came at them. Naruto cringed again.

The boy's breathing hastened. Now it was happening, now Naruto was starting to get affectd by Zabuza. It was the man's chakra not the actual transformation that affected Naruto. (just a reminder)

"Kakashi.." Naruto said while looking at his jounin sensei. "I can feel it....." He began to snicker.

Larxene had on her face a look of pure worry. "Naruto...." she said. Still the boy snickered, it was light and fast paced. The laugh sent chills down both Kakashi and Larxene's spines, it sounded almost like Zabuza's laugh that still rang in the distance behind them.

There was a shifting of rocks behind them when Zabuza stood up from his crater. he walked out with a faint purple glow surrounding him; the nuke-nin continued to send his chakra out in waves, which caused Naruto to snicker even louder.

"Kakashi....I see that you've brought some help....no matter you'll all die easily. Zabuza then release from his razor-sharp maw a laugh that rang throughout the forest. It was a laugh that upon hearing it Naruto began to mimic. He too laughed in that slightly similar maniac way that Zabuza was laughing.

"Kakashi-sensei, please can I ask you to back away before I go insane?"

"Sure." Kakashi then took several steps back.

"You too Larxene." She then did the same as Kakashi.

"T-thank y-you...heheh, hahaha!" Naruto was then threw his head into the air and fell onto his knees. There he laughed for several seconds before blue chakra began to envelope his body. Larxene was about to step forward and stop him, much in the same way she had done the last time, which was by slapping the boy, but she stopped when Kakashi put his hand out.

"So are we just supposed to sit here and watch as he goes insane?"

"Yes." Kakashi responded. Larxene scowled at his answer but remained where he was standing.

"Hahahaha." Naruto laughed as the blue chakra further cloaked his body, settling into a faint aura much like Zabuza's. "The madness.....I h-have to...killll. Heheheheh!" Suddenly Naruto stopped his laughing and just froze, kneeling there silently as if he was waiting for something to happen. He couldn't think straight, he couldn't even speak straight, this was what insanity felt like, soon he would forget this, but luckily he had Kyuubi there to retain his memory of this.

"What the hell is wrong with with the kid Kakashi?" Zabuza asked, quite annoyed by Naruto's laughter, mistaking the boy's insanity for crude mockery. Zabuza disappeared and a second later reappeared directly in front of Naruto who still stood silent. He outstretched his hand and released a brutal wave of chakra, causing Naruto to cringe. "Come." Seconds later Zabuza's zanbantou shot out from the crater he once occupied and flew into his hand. "Too bad..you'll have to die."

Zabuza heaved the blade back, ready to cleave the boy in half.

"Naruto!" Both Kakashi and Larxene yelled out as they made a desperate rush to stop Zabuza from killing Naruto. Too late....Zabuza had already brought the blade down. Naruto was surely doomed at this point, he had no defense at the moment and with Zabuza's blade coming closer to his head by the second the only option for him was....death.

"Die!" Zabuza yelled as he hacked down onto Naruto's body....or that's what would have happened if Naruto hadn't sunk into the ground, only to rise up out of it ten feet away from Zabuza in the same knelt-down position he was in before.

From the ten foot distance that separated them Zabuza could hear that Naruto had begun to laugh again, shrieking with all of his might possibly trying to expel all the madness flowing within him.

"What the hell?" Zabuza said as he turned around and heaved his blade at Naruto, but as it neared Naruto again sunk under the ground the ground and reappeared behind the man, this time directly in front of him with little but a few inches separating them.

From a distance Kakashi and Larxene looked on in amazement. "Kakashi, how is Naruto doing that, last time this happened he could even move...now he's freaking traveling underground!"

"I have no idea how he's doing this shit." Kakashi responded.

Little did Kakashi know that this was how Naruto's natural defense working in unison with his geostigma. If the user were ever in distress and was unconscious or asleep, yes the geostigma would automatically activate, but not only that, it would also act for the user, like it had a mind of its own. That in itself, although it looked like it, was not true. The geostigma did not have a mind of its own, it only acted purely off of the user's natural survival instincts.

It was simple, if something was about to kill a person the natural thing to do would be to avoid whatever it was that was about to kill them. That's how the geostigma as a defense worked; it acted subconsciously as a defense system that coexisted with ones natural instincts. It was a defense and only a defense. Still that didn't explain why the geostigma had activated and why Naruto could do all of this, he was neither asleep nor unconscious. Maybe it was because he was literally not in his right mind; he was somewhere distant, watching himself through a giant screen as he real body went berserk.

Zabuza looked down at Naruto's face, which had plastered on it a wide grin. "You're getting on my nerves kid...so fuck off!" He cocked his fist back and struck out, preparing to send Naruto to the shinigami's front desk.

Surprisingly.....Naruto caught his fist, Zabuza struggled to release himself from Naruto's grasp when the boy suddenly yelled out. "Holy shit! I could have died just now...too bad you didn't kill me though, you could have saved yourself an entire world of pain!" Naruto then tightened his grip on Zabuza's fist, which he then used to pull Zabuza in and fling him about twenty feet away.

Naruto stood up and laughed as the blue chakra that once surrounded him fully disappeared and he went along with it. He later appeared directly in front of Zabuza and punched him in the face, that was then followed up by about five seconds of rapid punches to the chest in which the final punch sent Zabuza skidding back on his feet.

Zabuza touched chest and spit up a small amount of blood. _'What the hell is this kid, I'd better watch out for him next time' _He was broken out of his thoughts when he saw Naruto charging at him again. The boy ran with insane speed that only experienced eyes could track. Zabuza outstretched his hands and his blade that still pierced the ground detached itself and came flying at Naruto from behind.

"Naruto look out!" Larxene yelled but her warning was for nothing for the crazed a Naruto had already sensed the blade and jumped up in the air escaping harm. Zabuza then caught the blade and jumped in the air in pursuit of Naruto. As he approached Zabuza struck out with a wild horizontal slash, which to Naruto's delight was parried when the boy gave a crazed smile and flipped over performing a variable axe-kick, striking the blade on its flat side; this properly caused Zabuza to get jerked down along with his blade. That allowed Naruto to step along the surface of Zabuza's Zanbantou and punch him in the face.

Zabuza grunted as he hit the floor but he quickly got up ignoring the pain as he dodged Naruto, nearly getting stomped into the ground. "Damn you!" He yelled before he was hit with a lightning fast follow-up kick that sent Zabuza flying. All Zabuza felt was pain when he hit a pile of steel crates about ten meters away from where Naruto had kicked him.

Looking at his hand, Zabuza noticed that he had lost his sword. Frantically he looked left and right until he finally found his blade. Surprisingly it was...right next to him. He reached out to grab it but then realized what he was doing...he had already fallen for the trap. Before he could pull his hand back Naruto flashed right next to him and grabbed his hand. "Shit!" He said with clenched teeth as Naruto, in a sheer display of chaotic gusto, lifted him up and slammed him into the ground. His vision when black as he felt the pain flood through his body like water would a stream.

Why the boy was so strong he didn't know....and what was he, fucking crazy? He just kept laughing, as if his pain was funny. But it wasn't; nobody would laugh at Momochi Zabuza and get to see another day. Ignoring the sensation in his back Zabuza pulled Naruto down and gave him a headbutt, cracking the boy in the nose. He smiled as a thin trail of thick blood fell out of the boy's nostrils. What was weird, however, was that Naruto himself began to smile as well.

"W-W-hat's so funny?" Zabuza said in his pumped-up transformation. Naruto let go of Zabuza's arm, letting it drop.

"You made....hehee....you made me bleed...ahahaha! That's hysterical!" Naruto let out a harsh scream before he cocked back and punched Zabuza in the stomach, causing a shock wave that completely obliterated the ground underneath him. All Zabuza could do was let out a silent yell as he took in the immense pain. "I'll kill you....hahaha!" Naruto held up his right hand and took out from his ninja tool pouch a tiny scroll. Quickly he then tossed the scroll in the air above his right arm and like magic the scroll opened and wrapped itself around it. The scroll then glowed blue for a few seconds and in a brilliant outburst of smoke it was gone.

When the smoke cleared it was revealed that it left behind what looked like a hard metal weapon that Naruto wore like a glove. Then Zabuza's eyes widened.....it was a gauntlet, more specifically one of the oni brothers' gauntlets! Naruto snickered at Zabuza's reaction which then turned into booming laughter.

"Like it, I call it the spitfire gauntlet!" This caused Zabuza's eyes to narrow; the boy had the audacity to take out his two henchmen and then parade around with one of their weapons! He saw him cock his arm back, the sunlight reflecting of the polished metal surface and the glare hitting him in the eye. He knew that Naruto was about to plunge his blades directly into his heart.

_'How could I be beaten so easily by ...a.....a child?! I can't let him beat me......no I won't let him beat me!' _Naruto struck out with almost blinding speed, as the lade came closer to Zabuza he steeled his resolve.

"I won't lose!" He yelled sticking out his hand in order to intercept the blow. Surprisingly..........he caught it. But that still didn't stop Naruto from laughing. Zabuza released a putrid wave of chakra from his body and the energy from that quick expulsion of chakra caused his air to spike itself up. Naruto cringed. Then in the back of the man's head he felt something ping , like another presence had just arrived. His thoughts we proven true when he saw, in the air, what looked like a beautiful stream of white cherry blossoms. At first they came like tiny little sparkling specks of dust but then they came in bigger numbers. Zabuza smiled knowing exactly what was happening

Then Zabuza himself began to laugh. "Kid......" he snickered, "don't get your hopes up....because this isn't over...it just started."

From where he was standing Kakashi's eyes widened, he didn't know for sure on whether what he was thinking was right but when he looked over to Larxene he knew that he suspicions had been proven correct.

"Kakashi....."

"I know...... He responded.

"Kid, now I can go all out on you...do you now why?" Naruto shook his head.

"Because......he's here."

"He's here..."

"He's here..." Zabuza, Kakashi and Larxene all said in unison.

Then seemingly from nowhere the shower of cherry blossoms began to swirl in the middle of the bridge which was about fifty meters from them; like a tornado it spun and as quickly as it came...it was gone, leaving behind a thick blanket of abnormal mist in the air.

From where everyone was standing the dark and muscular silhouette of a man could be seen, walking toward them. His footsteps the only thing breaking the silence that had somehow crept over the battle site. The shadowed figure stopped and uttered out a maniacal laugh that boomed through the air.

"Marlucia....-sama..."

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Bang...whoa I'm such an asshole! Cliffhanger, and an agonizing one I might add. Oh like I said before sorry bout the long ass wait. When the president of the united states of America is black then you should already know that about sixty-five percent of black people are gonna party...I was part of that sixty five percent. That's not really true but my point is that I partied after the inauguration therefore I could not get this chapter out a quickly as I wanted.

But it''s here and that's all that matters...so uh tell me how I did and whatever, but remember brutal honesty not insulting commentary. to be honest with myself I don't think that I did as well as I could have.

Other than that I've got nothing....wait actually I do, did you guys figure where I put my blank screen inspiration in this chapter. Tell me where it is in a review and I'll tell you whether or not you got it right.

**Another alert: **You know with the recent way my review income has been going I would like to keep it flowing. So you know what that means...review.....I mean like everyone, I want to see how far I can get when it comes to reviews, my goal is to get to at least 230 reviews if not more. So if you would be so kind and....help me out. EVERYBODY review!!!!.......everybody, thanks.

Top five reviewer list:

Chronostorm

Leaf Ranger

Sir MIDNIGHT The DarkSlayer

Dragon Man 180

Weasal

You see these guys above......go onto their profiles.....they are fucking bad ass. You most likely WILL find great stories or links to great stories on them. But seriously go, like after this I want you to search them up.....wait first leave a review THEN you can search these guys up. They rock.

Read and Review.

Next chapter: Finale among the waves

GrIm'S sTePpIn OuT.


	12. Finale among the waves

Yeaaah boiiiii!

Sooooooo how was everybody's Valentine's Day. Hope your's was good because mine was divine......seriously sitting on my ass all day while eating chocolates....uhhh HEAVEN! Nah nah I'm just playing I actually went out...just a little pre-chapter humor for the masses.

Chapter twelve of the rising is finally out. The wave arc is nearing its end ...I know, I know this took a really long time and I know everyone wants to know how the Zabuza fight is going to end. Well now you can .....so quit complaining and read. Oh but before you start reading let me tell you that this chapter is, in my opinion, a work of art. Well at least that's what I think so...its up to you guys to tell me how I did. I would also like to say that this chapter kicks so much ass, never have I pulled so much shit outta my ass and have it come out so clean. Fuck yeah...I think this chapter is approximately eighty-five percent ass-kickery, like seriously there's a shit load of action in this chapter! And for all those who read my first story, three souls in one: the struggle of Naruto, which is now currently off this site, because I deleted it I think you'll like the chapter especially. There's a very familiar plot twist in it that I decided to bring back form my old story so sit tight.

Oh and people I have just found a beta reader, his name, Zaion Indulias.

One more thing....I've started something else new.....a list, I call it the GUESS LIST. Just like the top five list I will give kudos but the difference is that this list only had room for one person's. Let me tell you how you get onto the list.....after reading a chapter...if you want in a review see if you can guess what I'm going to do in the next chapter. If you can guess right, anything....even one tiny thing right, I'll put you on the GUESS LIST, if you guess wrong then....yeaa...uh not much I can do there. I got the idea when I read a guy's review and he basically guess what I was going to do in the next chapter, which impressed me so I said "hey what the hell I'll give him some mutha fuckin Kudo's." and he will get those kudos.

Anyway that's it, no pre-chap summary or anything like that...just read.

Enjoy Mutha Fucka's

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

He arrives, they battle, and He is no more

That loud howl of wind was all that could be heard within the inner walls of Naruto's mental castle. Kyuubi sighed, resting his arms along the smooth velvet of the red circular chair he sat in. He scratched his chin and his facial expression constricted into one of deep pain. With a hard face Kyuubi jerked his head back, trying to keep his mind off of what was occurring in the outside world. Naruto was insane and his growing insanity was taking its toll on the mental sanctuary that he was eternally confined to. In other words, because of Naruto's hindered mental state Kyuubi was now feeling its effects and was forced to deal with them in what seemed to him to be the most outrageous ways ever.

While in his deep thought Kyuubi pondered on how he was going to veer his mind away from what was happening in actual reality. He was brought from his thought as the annoying rattle of a window to his right penetrated the silence of his room. The rattling grew and suddenly the window was forced open, letting in a boisterous torrent of harsh wind. He squinted in order to keep any debris from flying in.

"Alright this is starting to piss me off!" Kyuubi snapped his fingers and the window closed itself, ending the vicious gale. That was probably the tenth time that that had happened. The instant Naruto had gone insane on the outside world thee weather in his mental sanctuary suddenly became erratic, violent, and volatile. One minute Kyuubi was sitting in his chair watching a nice movie and the next thing he knew the power had cut off and weather suddenly went to hell. Inside Kyuubi couldn't feel anything but the instant the windows were open he was automatically subject to a heavy dose of insanity. Fortunately for him, his link with Naruto was just a link and not full mental synchronization or else Kyuubi might have been out in that storm.

He stood, shaking bits of black grass and other debris from his slick crimson hair. The pseudo demon knew that a person's mind went to shambles when they experienced insanity but he never thought that he would feel it first hand! He snapped his fingers once more and on each of the three windows appeared three heavy chrome steel locks, which bounded them shut with a heavy iron chain. He looked over his confined room, with an inspecting eye then looked toward the door.

He needed a way to keep his mind off of the outer battle; so he made his way to the door and exited the room. Once outside he pulled out a key and locked it.... guess it was time for him to roam around Naruto's mind once again. Exploring his jailer's deeply complicated mind had grown to become one of his favorite things to do. Every time he ventured out of his little room he found something new.

"First stop....memory banks." Kyuubi made his way down the brightly lit hall that led to Naruto's past memories. As he walked he noticed that the windows that ran along the walls were all shaking from the furious winds outside. Just to ensure that they wouldn't burst open like the windows in his room had snapped his fingers and gave them an extra lock as well. As he walked he continuously snapped, making a chrome lock appear on every window he passed.

He turned the corner onto a hallway that was devoid of windows, and he brought his hand down, resting it inside his pocket. Soon he found himself walking into a large hall that looked similar to the rest of the castle. There was nothing different about it except for the giant doors across the hall that had the word "Memory" written above it in what seemed to be crimson ink.

He had reached Naruto's memory banks, behind those doors were every bit of information that Naruto had ever retained. Then it hit him, he was supposed to keep Naruto's memory of being insane behind those doors. Now how he was supposed to do that...he had no clue. When the boy had asked him to do it, he had only agreed because he wanted to get to sleep but know he realized that agreeing to do something that you had no idea how to do wasn't the greatest course of action one could pick. And wasn't he supposed to be the wise pseudo demon? Nope.

The crimson-haired man just slapped his head and walked over to the giant thirty foot doors that held Naruto's memories inside. He looked up..... and sweat-dropped . "Damn...now how am I supposed to do this?" He asked into the air while scratching his head. Honestly, just what the fuck was he supposed to do? How does one actually retain a person's memory for them? Kyuubi just shrugged it off....he'd figure it out.....eventually.

There was the sudden flutter of footsteps, which didn't go on unnoticed by Kyuubi's extremely acute ears. Even though he had been turned into a demon fox against his will it did come with some perks. For example....extremely accurate senses of smell, sight, and hearing; so anything that tried sneaking past Kyuubi had almost no chance of going pass without him noticing them. But the question was....who was there in Naruto's mind that would try to sneak past him? It couldn't have been Naruto for he was currently........preoccupied at the moment. Kyuubi felt a tight ball form inside of his stomach; it wasn't fear that formed the twisting all in his gut. It was curiosity; in Kyuubi's mind anything that could infiltrate Naruto's mind while he was inside had to be strong. It was actually safer to say that it wasn't curiosity that excited Kyuubi but rather his natural drive to ferret out strong opponents.

Kyuubi's ears flicked as he heard another series of rapid footsteps sound behind him. He placed his hand on the huge door holding Naruto's memory and smiled. "Whoever you are you can stop trying to hide, trust me trying to sneak up on me won't do you much good." Smoothly, the semi-demon turned around in one liquid motion turned around to face his potential enemy. There was nobody there.

Kyuubi scoffed and sighed. Whoever this person was, he knew one thing about them; that person was skilled at hiding his presence. If Kyuubi wasn't who he was he probably would have had a kunai protruding from his skull right about now. In a jaunty manner Kyuubi brought his head up to look at the ceiling. When he got a look at the person who was standing upside down trying to hide his presence his eyes widened.

Kyuubi jumped back when a boy with a golden mane of fur jumped down from the ceiling with smashed directly into the ground creating a crater in the perfectly polished floor of the hall of memories. Judging by his hair color Kyuubi had guessed that it was Naruto but considering the current situation that Naruto was in on the outside world Kyuubi knew that Naruto wouldn't attack him at this moment in time. That definitely wasn't Naruto.

The fox's eyes narrowed and he locked his gaze onto the now crouching boy. "Who the hell are you?" He asked. He frowned when the kid continued to hang his head low and uttered out a low snicker. "I said show yourself, I know you're not Naruto you can give up the act and stop posing like him.

The blond boy continued to snicker, shaking his head violently. "Such a fool Kyuubi, are you so sure that I'm not the REAL Naruto?" The boy asked, causing Kyuubi to raise his eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that I know that you're a fake......you can't fool me. But you I'll give you this: you do a good henge. I mean you even smell li....!" Then it hit Kyuubi, this was Naruto's mind only things that he had smelled exist in this mind-scape. Unless Naruto has directly smelled it then the smell cannot exist where Kyuubi was; what made it worse was that the scent actually matched Naruto's natural scent. This was something that no person, no matter how skilled, could mimic. This person was Namikaze Naruto.

Upon this epiphany Kyuubi smiled, but the smile faded when 'Naruto' raised his head. He looked exactly like Naruto but there was something different about his face. It was his skin, this 'Naruto's' skin was noticeably darker than what it was before; it had gone from its normal light, pale complexion to a darker golden brown complexion. Was this really Naruto? Kyuubi thought differently.

His face was the same, his eyes were no different, and all that was different was his skin. Even though this person was noticeably darker than Naruto, judging by Kyuubi's senses he was Naruto.

"Oh do you see now...... Kyuubi-kun, I am Naruto..."

"Don't lie to me."

"Now why would I lie to the convict?" That comment caused Kyuubi to clench his fist, his face forming into a furious snarl. This person wasn't Naruto....he may have looked and smelled like him but he wasn't Naruto. Naruto wouldn't say something like that; it was so unlike Naruto to mock Kyuubi on his misfortune of being sealed away inside of his body.

"You bitch do you know who you are speaking to?!" Kyuubi said as a murky haze of red chakra began to envelop him. The chakra surrounded him and out of the lumpy energy came a single tail of red chakra. Suddenly the chakra dissipated. "No you're not worth that much effort." He said. _'This must have something to do with Naruto's insanity; I'll capture him and find out what's going on once the real Naruto finishes fighting.' _Kyuubi retracted from his thoughts, and locked his crimson gaze onto the impostor. With two quick steps Kyuubi launched himself at the boy with inhuman speed.

_'You won't escape.' _

_----_

(Out in the real world)

Heavy mist permeated the air, displacing it and replacing it with a ghost like blanket of sparkling ice and water vapor. From her position next to Kakashi it looked as if she was staring at a glittering cloud in the distance. Larxene may have not like Marlucia, but damn, he knew how to make an entrance! She stayed low, crouched and hidden by the mist. She could barely see Naruto anymore and Kakashi was nothing more than a fading silhouette next to her.

She thought to herself, _'This is good, phase one complete. Now all we need to do is immobilize Zabuza and then we can take care of Marlucia.' _She felt a peculiar burst of chakra and then as if it was blown by the wind, the mist was blown away but the sparkling shards of ice remained in the air. There stood Marlucia, with a calm face and calm demeanor. Why he looked so relaxed was a mystery to her.

He turned his gaze onto her, and his eyes widened, his lips mirrored his eyes as his mouth opened as well. A smile crept onto her face when she saw his reaction; to be a bit honest, Larxene was actually expecting something a bit more robust, especially since it was coming from Marlucia. She had anticipated that the instant He saw her he would try to attack and kill her, which didn't really do much for her in the end. Nevertheless she was glad that Marlucia hadn't acted accordingly to the script in her mind. Instead the brown-haired man just smiled which brought Larxene's confidence in winning this fight down a level.

His confidence plummeted as Marlucia's smile widened and he began to laugh again. She then saw Marlucia take a couple steps and as quickly as his feet hit the ground they were off and he seemingly flew over to Naruto, who still had Zabuza on the ground, and grabbed him by his neck, lifting him several feet in the air.

This caused anger to well up inside of Larxene, her insides burned as if they were on fire. Simply the sight of Marlucia touching Naruto was enough to get her pissed. She heard a whisper next to her and she quickly turned her head in Kakashi's direction.

"Hey, you take Zabuza and I'll take Marlucia...got it?" Larxene just stared at him for a few seconds, not knowing what to say when her insides burned her even more. Then she shook her head. "No....I'll take Marlucia." Kakashi's eye widened.

"No...I can't let you do th-...." But he was cut off when Larxene simply turned and dashed toward Marlucia while in the process spraying quite a bit of dust in his face. "What a fool!" He said as he dashed off in pursuit.

What was she doing, blindly charging in at Marlucia of all people. She had no clue why she was doing this, she just did it; her body was moving on its own. Her feet pounded against the hard cement, kicking up tiny clouds of dust every time she took a step and she could feel her body overflowing with a mass of adrenaline.

Then Marlucia did something that she didn't expect: he dropped Naruto, letting him fall to the ground with a hard thump which only served in further enraging her. She pumped chakra in to her legs, overflowing them with chakra in order to gain even more speed. But as she closed in on him, Marlucia dashed straight at her, ghosting across the surface of the bridge and coming to a stop when he was directly in front of her. Larxene, who wasn't expecting this stumbled forward only to run directly into his clutches, soon Marlucia held her the way he held Naruto; by the neck and suspended in the air.

Tightening his grip on her neck he whispered to her. "Larxene....long time no see."

"Shut the fuck up." She said through clenched teeth as she brought her hands up to his, trying to release herself from his grasp.

"Hey...that's no way to speak to those who are above you!" He tightened his grip on her throat, causing her to gag and choke. "Zexin-sama was right, you are better of dead, I bet he'll be glad to know that I was the one fulfilled his wishes." A smile crept onto his face, it was evil, malevolent, pretty normal considering that it was Marlucia.

Marlucia continued to choke, squeezing on her neck like it was putty and slowly sapping the life out of her body. Her lungs screamed for air and her vision was beginning to get hazy, tiny purple stars dance before her eyes fixing her in a semi-conscious daze.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!", (Fire release: great fireball technique) A loud hiss seared in the distance, bringing with it a harsh orange light that, by what Larxene could barely see, was getting brighter and brighter by the second. She mustered up enough energy to look to her right and when she did her eyes widened, startled by the huge ball of orange flames that now rapidly approached the two of them.

Marlucia stuck out his free hand, and before his palm danced a shining cluster of icy shards. He grabbed one of them between his forefinger and thumb; he let go. "Aisu engo!"(Ice protection)

The instant the shard of ice touched the ground it erupted upward, ascending into the sky in the form of a massive wall of ice. The frozen shield rose just in time to intercept the blazing ball of fire that threatened to end both Marlucia and Larxene's lives. As the torrent of flames rammed into the wall, Larxene could see a brilliant display of light refracting through the ice, shining in her eyes the colors red white and yellow.

Then the ball was gone, leaving only a scarce remnant of what was once Marlucia's Aisu engo. Standing not far from the shield was Kakashi who held his hand out iin front of his mouth in a post-Jutsu position signaling that he was the one who shot the fireball. He wore a shocked expression like it was a jacket.

At that moment Larxene didn't know whether or not she should have been mad at Kakashi for almost killing her or thankful to Marlucia for saving them both.

"My, my that was a strong Jutsu.... it actually damaged my Aisu Engo. Sadly it wasn't strong enough," he inclined his head toward Zabuza who had been watching the show up until now. "Zabuza, get rid of him!" He ordered.

"Gladly," responded the demon of them mist right before his sword hovered over to him and he dashed directly at Kakashi. Marlucia laughed as he still continued to choke Larxene, who was slowly slipping away to a world where only the unconscious roamed.

"Before you die....." Marlucia yelled from behind the still charging Zabuza.

Zabuza closed in on Kakashi with his sword raised high. Kakashi slid into his taijutsu stance.

"Let me tell you my name." Zabuza got even closer; it was too late Zabuza was already on Kakashi, heaving down his blade on the Jonin only for it to be dodged. With reflexes Kakashi spun around, whipped out a kunai and slashed Zabuza across the chest. The man stumbled back smiling and grabbed hold of Kakashi's arm. While pivoting his foot on the ground the man spun and kicked Kakashi in the ribs, suspending Kakashi into the air.

The Cyclops Jonin closed his eyes and opened them only to see Zabuza coming down at him like a meteor; the zanbantou was pointed down and Zabuza clutched the hilt with both hands. "Now you'll see why the call my sword the guillotine!" He roared. Kakashi felt something hard in his hand and noticed that he still grasped the kunai he used to injure Zabuza in his hand. Out of desperation Kakashi brought it up in the path of the giant blade right before it lopped of his head and after the clash of steel they both continued to fall under the forceful pull of gravity.

_'Damn, this isn't good; I won't survive if I land with Zabuza's blade on top of me!' _Kakashi thought, knowing that if he and Zabuza were to fall together the man's large zanbantou would split his flimsy excuse for a shield in half second they hit the floor. This was definitely bad.

Zabuza smiled as he was sure that Kakashi wouldn't survive his attack, with the wind slapping his face he pushed down even harder to ensure that Kakashi would die.

They hit the ground with a thunderous boom for the second time in one day; the attack left a highly noticeable mark in the bridge: a crater, twenty feet wide and five feet deep.

"Hahahaha....good work Zabuza-san now that you've killed that bastard I'll let you kill this one." Marlucia yelled. He was surprised when he saw Zabuza walk out of the crater with a slight limp.

"I didn't kill him......., He used some sort of earth jutsu to escape."

Larxene knew exactly what that meant and gave a weak smile. "Heheh....underestimated him didn't you Marlucia-teme?" Marlucia frowned and squeezed even harder, causing Larxene to release a weak grunt.

"You bitch...I didn't ask you to speak....!" Marlucia was cut of in mid-sentence when he heard the sound of something cracking underneath him; he looked down and saw that the ground underneath him was breaking apart. Soon Kakashi burst out of the small fracture in the ground turning it into a huge hole as he struck out with the same kunai he held before in an attempt to slash the arm Marlucia used to hold Larxene.

He hit his mark and smiled as he saw Marlucia's arm erupt in a spray of ....ice? Not blood but tiny ice particles were erupting from Marlucia's arm in a blindingly bright shower of white light and ice. "A bunshin?" Kakashi said right before the rest of Marlucia's clone crumbled away into nothing; its arm holding Larxene was the last thing that faded away and once it did Larxene gasped for air and dropped to the ground. Her hands immediately flew to her neck; gently messaging and rubbing the skin in order to sooth her.

She coughed a bit and looked up at Kakashi. "Thanks....thought I was goner." She said.

"Just don't do something stupid like that again; I might not be able to save you next time." Kakashi said while his gaze drifted to Zabuza. "Now like I said before, I'll take Marlucia and you take Zabuza, got it?" Larxene simply nodded. She was impressed that Kakashi was able to free her even under all that pressure.... he was stronger than what she had first perceived him to be. Then while looking at the way he held his side she felt a pang of guilt lance through her. He had almost gotten killed just in an attempt to save her which made feel a bit weak, just know she played the role of damsel in distress and she was absolutely sure that she didn't like it.

"Sorry..." she said as she got up, rubbing her neck, and they both faced Zabuza. The man's aura was clearly visible and from what they could see he was just getting started. Hopefully that little beat down Naruto had given him would be enough to slow him down just far enough that Larxene could take him out which she was fully capable of doing at the moment; although there was one other factor that she was afraid would be a immensely detrimental to their chances of attaining victory: Marlucia.

Larxene knew first hand what kind of power that Marlucia possessed; it would take both her and Kakashi together to defeat him. She wasn't so sure that she would be able to handle Marlucia after fighting Zabuza, nevertheless she felt strangely calm about the entire thing. She felt as if she was forgetting something.....some other unknown variable that could help her and Kakashi get rid of Zabuza.

The wind blew and the hairs on both Kakashi and Larxene's neck stood on end. Marlucia was still around; neither of them could forget that, the foul aura left in the air was there to attest for it. A series of short clicks alerted them of Marlucia's presence directly behind them; Kakashi turned around to see Marlucia standing ten meters way from them opposite from Zabuza. They were surrounded.

"I'm surprised that you freed that traitor, you're stronger than you look." He said while looking at Kakashi. Larxene cringed when she heard the harsh way Marlucia uttered the word 'traitor'. "No matter, now that gives me reason to kill you both! I Marlucia Zerbast swear to it!"

"What's the matter Marlucia?" said Larxene, "You're deliberately going out of your way to kill us, I know that you're here to capture Naruto-k, that Namikaze-" Kakashi turned his head, eyeing her. "-so why aren't going after him....is there something that you want perhaps do you possess some sort if ulterior motive for not extracting his Kekkei genkai when you had the chance?"

Although she could no see it, Marlucia smiled. "No....I just want to see you two dead...." he began to laugh "-and trust me........I will not fail to carry out my own wishes!" Marlucia then raised his hands, generating above his head, a sparkling cloud of white particles. "I, Marlucia...the White Sakura...... will kill you both and then when I'm finished I'll extract that Namikaze's bloodline!"

Marlucia brought his palms together and crouched onto the ground. "Hanami!" (Cherry blossom viewing)The cloud of bright ice spilled onto the floor and rose up again creating a huge tidal wave of ice, aimed directly at Kakashi and Larxene.

Kakashi was prepared to jump when he felt another spike in energy behind him. He turned and saw Zabuza with his palm outstretched; the man held a bright white sphere of energy in one hand and in his other held.......................Naruto! "Don't move unless you want me to send this kid to the shinigami." Zabuza yelled. He brought the ball of energy close to Naruto's right temple. The boy was unconscious and his body was limber, swaying in the wind like a worn out rag doll, upon seeing thin a tight ball formed in Larxene's stomach, looping itself into a hard knot.

"Stand there and take the attack....it's either you or the boy and I know that you both want to keep him alive!" Zabuza roared. Larxene looked at Zabuza then at the wall of ice, then back at Zabuza. There was only one choice....she had to rely on someone else. The knot loosened; she finally remembered what that unknown variable was.

Kakashi felt the exact same way that Larxene felt at the moment. The both of them turned and faced Zabuza, their backs to the luminescent wave of ice. "Momochi I'm afraid that you won't be killing anybody...neither will Marlucia." Kakashi said.

"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" Zabuza yelled.

"This...." Larxene answered back. Right as the wave of ice was about to rip them to shreds it erupted upwards, scattering little bits and pieces of frozen shrapnel into the air.

"What the fuck...." But before he could react, the ice in the air clustered together and became one huge spear of ice, it shot itself directly at Zabuza, impaling him in the stomach and making his sphere of energy disappear while at the same drop Naruto.

Zabuza's eyes rattled in his head, shaking violently at what just happened. That was the question: had Marlucia-sama betray him? Zabuza couldn't think of any other logical reason for his unexplained evisceration. That had to be it, he staring at a huge ten foot spear of ice through his stomach because Marlucia had decided to attempt kill him at that very moment. But why...why would he?

The spear of ice was painted red where it had gone through its body and the tip dripped with blood. Zabuza fell to his knees and then down to his side, there he stared at Marlucia who had a shocked expression on his face. Silently Zabuza cursed him, for giving him so much power then cruelly taking away in one instant. Then Zabuza noticed that Marlucia's eyes weren't looking at him but rather at Kakashi and Larxene...no they were fixated on someone else other then those two.

Zabuza's eyes widened. Standing behind Kakashi and Larxene was another person, a girl garbed in a blue, brown and white battle kimono. She had two long locks of dark brown hair hanging on either side of her face and the rest of it was tied away in a little bun that rested comfortably on the top of her head.

Zabuza couldn't believe what he was seeing; he couldn't believe what he was thinking. His eyes must have been playing tricks on his mind for who he was looking at could not have been real, why she of all people would do this to him was beyond his comprehension. He knew of her Kekkei genkai, her power to control ice, but he never anticipated that she would use that power against him, not like this anyway.

Zabuza's eyes widened to about the size of two baseballs when he saw that girl turn around and when he looked at her face.....he saw.....a white hunter-nin mask! He definitely knew who this person was, the mask told him everything. She was the person that who had unexpectedly impaled him, not Marlucia. As this girl walked over to Zabuza.....she took off her mask revealing her face to him.

Her eyes filled to the brim with tears. She crouched in front of him, sniffling.

"Zabuza-sama...I'm sorry, I couldn't let you do it." She said.

"Haku-ch....an......why?" Zabuza said before he coughed up a slight upchuck of blood.

----

(In Naruto's mindscape)

Naruto woke up with a jolt; he was in his mind's bedroom.

He was on the floor and sweating and as quickly as he had woken up he stood. He rubbed his head thrice (I love that word) and looked around in a daze of confusion. The room was dimly lit with one of those 'invisible lights' that seemed to be everywhere, why Naruto had even decided to create them like this was beyond his understanding at the moment. His mind was solely focused on the fact that he had somehow been knocked unconscious or was asleep. He remembered standing in front of a huge crater next to Larxene and Haku then there was this terrible feeling, no doubt his growing insanity creeping in his mind, other than that he couldn't remember a thing.

The dead chill of his mental room forced Naruto to cup his hands over his mouth and blow in order to warm them up. As he walked over to his door, still cupping his hands, Naruto noticed something: the repetitive rattle of the window behind him. Quickly he turned around, ever ticked-off by the sound, and his eyes widened.

Outside blew a violent storm, a storm more violent than the likes of those that he had ever seen in the real world. "W-What's going on....a storm, there should never be a storm outside-", then Naruto paused to think, "-unless there was something wrong with my body on the outside!" Naruto hastened to the window, clearing the distance in less than a second. Perplexed by this unexplained phenomenon Naruto moved closer placing his face closer to the glass. Slowly he brought his hand up tp touch it.

"Just what the fuck is going on......" Closer and closer he got, drawn in by the ghastly howl generated by the intense gale. Closer and close rhe came, his fingers just about an inch from the window.

His skin made contact with the cold surface.

Instantly Naruto was thrown back, as the glass doors swung open and he was confronted by a wall of wind. It blew him back and he smacked his back against the door to his room. Slowly he slid down the wall and came to a stop once he hit the floor.

The wind forced him to narrow his eyes and out of his own mental reflex, he brought his hand up to block his eyes from any rogue pieces of debris.

"What is this......." Quickly, Naruto snapped his fingers and like Kyuubi had done before he closed the windows without touching them. Astounded by the force of the storm Naruto sat there petrified, frozen still in shock. He then stood, almost slipping and dashed out his room not even bothering to close the door.

As he sped threw his mental hallways at breakneck pace. While running he opened up his mental link with Kyuubi. Apparently this manifestation of his mind was so immense that whenever Naruto came into his mindscape and Kyuubi wasn't there he had to figure out Kyuubi's location through their mental link. It was a quick and effective way for them to contact each other whiles apart his mind.

He could feel Kyuubi's chakra flooding outward from the general direction that he was heading in; that let him know that he was going the right way. _'Kyuubi...where are you........and what the fuck is up with that fucking insane storm outside?' _He waited a couple seconds before he heard a reply from his fox captive.

_'I'm at the grand memory hall.........and how the hell do you expect me to know about that storm outside?'_

_'Well...don't you fucking live here?' _Naruto shot back.

_'Yes, but it's your mind, I would think that you would know what's going on in your mind....what did you forget abo-.......' _Kyuubi paused for a second, _'....actually I do know what that storm outside is. Hurry and get over here I'll explain everything once you arrive.' _

_'Sure.' _Naruto said right before cutting off the link between him and his pseudo demon friend.

Naruto came to a skidding stop and turned the corner onto the hall leading to his grand memory hall and after a few seconds of running down it and noticed something peculiar about the windows. They each were shackled and bounded by a large chrome lock that hung in the middle where the windows were separated by the frame. He figured that it must have had something to do with keeping the storm outside from getting inside, so he dropped the matter.

After a few minutes of more running Naruto saw a dim light coming from the hall to his right; that was were the grand memory hall was. Naruto could now feel Kyuubi's chakra bit more clearly now. There was no doubt that the fox's chakra was being expended at the very moment; it wasn't as if it even mattered though. Kyuubi possessed such a vast amount of chakra that if he wanted to he could release a constant output of chakra for a year and still have more to spare.

When Naruto stepped into the light and turned the corner his eyes widened as he came to an abrupt and almost immediate stop. In front of him stood Kyuubi, his hands folded behind his back with a expression on his face that was nothing but serious. There was a slight glow coming from his body, a faint dangerous aura that, every few seconds, would pulse. "What the fuck are you doing, Kyuubi?" The man said nothing for a while; he just continued to give Naruto that same severe expression which only served in placing Naruto out of his comfort zone. "What...what's wrong?"

"Naruto, do you remember what you asked me to do before when you went insane?" Naruto's looked at him, slack-jawed and blinked hard several times.

"Yeah, I asked you to retain my memories of my insanity...but why are you asking that now?" Kyuubi continued to gaze at him with that same grim expression.

"Because Naruto, I think I did just that." Kyuubi said, his voice carrying an uncanny monotone.

"Okay......could you show it to me.... then, it must have something to do with this storm."

Kyuubi nodded. "I will but can I ask one thing...are you afraid to look at yourself?" This question caused Naruto to raise an eyebrow. Just what was that supposed to mean? Was he afraid of himself......the question was a bit too abstract for Naruto to grasp in his current condition. He didn't know whether or not Kyuubi wanted him to answer it or whether the question was just a cleverly worded riddle in order get him to look at himself introspectively. Either or, Naruto didn't see the point behind it; it was just Kyuubi being Kyuubi. But he decided that he should address the fox on his question.

"Is that supposed to be some weird riddle or something?" Naruto asked jokingly while chuckling a bit. His light laughter subsided when he saw that Kyuubi's grim-faced expression did not lighten up but remained the same. "..UH okay I guess not..." Naruto's expression then settled into one that matched Kyuubi's. He figured that at the moment the best thing would be for him to just answer the question. "...I guess that I'm not afraid to look at myself if we're being serious."

Kyuubi closed his eyes then sighed. "Good, then I'll assume that you won't be afraid of what...no, who I'm going to show to you." This caused Naruto to raise an eyebrow; was Kyuubi going to show him...himself, because that was the impression that Naruto was getting right now.

"Wait, what exactly do you mean by 'who' you're going to show to me. There shouldn't be anyone else in here besides you and me remember, this my mind."

"You are absolutely correct ...Naruto-kun." Kyuubi then took a step to the side, revealing someone behind him. Until now Naruto hadn't realized that there was someone behind him. Wait...someone behind him....? That shouldn't have been possible. Naruto's eyes widened as he gazed upon the unruly bush of hair that belong to someone other than himself and he soon was forced to accept the fact that: yes there was someone else in his mind!

He took a step back and away from the shaggy-haired intruder, who now had his head lowered, hiding his face from view. His arms were position behind his back and he was on his knees making him temporarily shorter than Naruto. Around his arms, Naruto could see, that they were bounded together by a peculiar red chakra, the same chakra that now served as an aura for Kyuubi. The thing that perturbed Naruto the most was that the intruder was dressed in the same exact way that he was, his hair was also an exact copy of Naruto's. It was like he was seeing double.

"What the fuck is this?" Naruto asked Kyuubi to which the pseudo demon just swayed his arm around, extending it toward the intruder and simply said.

"Ask him." Naruto felt uneasy as he brought his eyes back to the intruder who was now starting to look suspiciously like a boy. There was about a million things flowing through Naruto's mind at the moment, one thought: who the fuck was this person? Slowly Naruto opened his mouth, his lips ready to form a the constant stream of words that was sure come but as he began to enunciate he was cut of by a shrill high pitched laugh.

The kneeling intruder was laughing. "What the hell's so funny?" Naruto asked him, yet the boy still continued to laugh which angered Naruto to almost no limit. But sadly he did have a limit which forced Naruto to clench his teeth in order to stop himself from lashing out and probably stomping the boy until he stopped. For some reason Naruto found the boy's laughter to be extremely creepy, there was nothing disarming about and he could have sworn that he heard it before.

"What are you doing in my mind you freak?" Naruto said, uncomfortable from the boy's laugh as he took a step forward preparing to kill him if he did not talk. "Speak!" He yelled out in frustration.

"HEHEHE....seeing as how you asked so nicely then I guess that I'll spare you a few words." Naruto's eyes widened. Not only was he seeing someone who looked like him but he was hearing someone that sounded like him as well! A tiny gasp escaped Naruto's lips as he released it out of shock. When the boy spoke he sounded exactly like Naruto, like a crystal clear recording of the blond Nin's voice. The only thing that could differentiate the two voices was the slight malicious edge in the voice of the latter.

Frozen like a statue Naruto stood there, completely astounded, until he was broken out of his stiff posture by the boy's voice. "What's wrong, Naru-kun...afraid of who you might be looking at?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?!" He grabbed the boy by the nape of his identical jacket and lifted his head so that he could get a better look at his face. Naruto eyes widened once more; as he found himself staring at.....himself!

"I'm you!" said the double, putting on the most insane facial expression. Naruto was no longer staring at an intruder..... He was staring in a mirror. This...other Naruto was an exact copy of the original except his skin was just a bit more tanned that Naruto's was.

That cleared everything up; there really wasn't an intruder in his mind, technically he and Kyuubi were the only people there. Great.

"I bet you're wondering why you're looking at yourself, correct?" said the doppelganger Naruto which Naruto replied to by nodding. "Like I said before, I'm you...just the insane part of you." Naruto raised an eyebrow which did not go on unnoticed by the darker Naruto. "What...you thought that you're going insane had no effect whatsoever?" He chuckled wildly." After you went insane for the first time, the Konton's chakra had so much of a strain on your overall psyche that it created me."

"How do you know about Konton?" Naruto asked, hoping for a logical answer, seeing as how everything at the moment wasn't making the slightest bit of sense to him.

"Because Like I said, I'm you.....there for your memories are now mine as well, we share the same mind, the same, body, but two different spirits. Your spirit being one of balance and power while mine is a spirit of chaos and like yours power."

"Well you don't seem very chaotic to me." Naruto said which caused the clone to laugh.

"Not now I don't, in time you will see how chaotic I can be. Anyway like I said before, after I was created I laid low for awhile, not even daring to venture into this castle. Yes that means that I was born on the outside of your castle walls, but now I'm in them, we are one and the same."

"And I'm supposed to believe that load of bullshit?" Naruto asked, putting on a mask of boredom. It disappeared once the 'dark' Naruto began laughing.

"Yes...yes you are, we ARE connected, and I'm the closest thing to you. More connected to you than any of the minuscule amount of friends that we had in Konoha, more connected to you than any of the friends that we seem to have made here, I'm even closer to you than Kyuubi himself!" This caused. Naruto to give Kyuubi a quick glance, he saw him nodded in approval, then he looked back at 'himself'.

"So if what you are saying is true and you are me, let me ask you one thing: what are you planning to do?"

"How about you tell Kyuubi here to let me go, and maybe I'll tell you."

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

This time Kyuubi interjected. "He can't Naruto; while it is true that he IS in all that he is here Naruto Namikaze, which is all that he is. Apparently when you came in contact with Konton's chakra, it interacted with my chakra and ended up creating him thereby making him you, but he does not control me like you do. Since he was born after the placement of the shiki fuujin, it does not affect him in anyway, and because of that he cannot regulate my power levels at will, unlike you can."

Naruto grinned...he was actually a bit worried for a second there. He was so caught of guard that he hadn't taken the time to assess and properly analyze his darker side's 'skills'. At least he now knew that while his dark side may have been him, he did not have dominance over his mental mindscape like he did. "Oh... so what you're saying is that he can't control this place like I can?" Kyuubi nodded. "Sweet." That last comment caused the spirit of chaos to let out a short growl.

"Just because I can't control this place does not mean that I have absolutely no power. So don't get you're hopes up, I'm here to stay after all it's my mind too." That was true but it really didn't matter whether or not he had power, he was powerless if he couldn't control his own mind.

"Well since you are me I assume that you are just as strong as I am, and will keep growing as I do." The other Naruto nodded and the Original Naruto nodded as well, pondering on what to do from that point on. "Well you don't seem like a threat to my mind, so I'll strike you a deal"

"A deal?"

"Yeah a deal; I was planning on killing you the instant I saw you but now since I realize that in exterminating you I will be killing off part of myself, I've had a change of heart. Here's the deal I'll let you remain in my mind if you can do one thing..."

"And what is that?"

"Prove to me that you truly are a spirit of chaos and power."

"How?"

"I know how!" Kyuubi said, suddenly cutting in again.

----

(The outside word)

Kakashi was feeling a lot more confident than he was feeling before; in one decisive move Haku had greatly shifted the tide of the battle. With Zabuza out of the way they could all focus on Marlucia, which would still be hard, but not as difficult as it would have been if he had opposed the ice-wielder by himself.

Both he and Larxene faced Marlucia, an angry expression on his face. Actually it was more shocked than angry; it seems as if he wasn't expecting this either. The fact that Zabuza had been immobilized so easily was probably a too much for him to handle at the moment.

"Marlucia, it's over...." Marlucia smiled and loud laughter ensued.

"HA...are you serious, don't make me laugh with such a highhanded remark. It's not over the battle has just begun!" Kakashi smirked under his concealing mask of mystery; even though he could not see it Marlucia could practically sense that the silver-haired Jonin was smiling underneath his cover. "What's so funny...?"

Kakashi brought his hand up to the section of his forehead protector that covered his left eyes and tapped on the hard surface of the polished metal that due to the battle had lost most of its previous luster. "You forget....I still haven't revealed to you one thing." He slipped his hand under the fabric of his headband and with ease lifted the cloth off, revealing his eye to Marlucia.

At first Kakashi had expected Marlucia's eyes to pop out of his head, but unfortunately his reaction was several notches below what the copy-nin had anticipated. Marlucia simply said: "Whoa I had almost forgot about that, not that it even matters, your Kekkei Genkai won't do you much good. But that does give me a good idea!" Marlucia's expression was ecstatic and his eyes were glazed over with a light coat of what seemed to be pure ecstasy. "I think I'll take your Sharingan as well, that is after I extract Naruto's." Marlucia gazed at Kakashi and Larxene who then took it upon themselves to look at each other than back toward Marlucia.

"You ready?" Larxene asked.

"Yeah." Kakashi responded.

"Well....let the bout......" Marlucia raised his hands, making a light collection of 'white sakura' form around him. Floating aimlessly, the shards of ice encircled Marlucia. They then compacted in front of his hands and formed into a long slender scythe made of pure ice. (You can already guess that it looks like Marlucia's scythe from Kingdom hearts). He grasped it and pointed the deadly edged weapon out, which accentuated exactly how long the blade really was. ".......begin!" Marlucia said as he disappeared only to reappear directly behind her with his frozen weapon position directly under her neck and but a hair's width away from her skin.

"I see you're still as inattentive as ever La-La." That caused a nerve to pop out of Larxene's forehead; nobody had ever called her La-La since she was tiny Saiki member. The closest nickname she had to 'La-La', which was a name that her brother dubbed onto her and she completely despised, was Lar-chan and that name itself was a nightmare all its own. Although when said by certain people, say Naruto, the nickname Lar-chan was deemed as 'acceptable' by her.

Quickly she cut off her introspective thoughts and decided to respond to Marlucia's revival of her old nickname. "Don't ever call me that again you asshole."

"Oh what's wrong La-La" Larxene twitched, "You still don't like that nickname even after all these years?"

"Not a chance." She said as she quickly took a step back and ducked down in order to escape Marlucia's icy blade, she followed up by a swift kick, aimed at Marlucia's gut but unfortunately he blocked it with his scythe.

"Oh what's wrong I thought we were friends?" He said while taking a step back, only to run into Kakashi who was already behind him and forming hand seals.

"Sorry...you're an erstwhile friend now!" He ended his set of seals with a tiger seal. "Katon: Karyuu endan! (Fire release: dragon flame bomb) Kakashi inhaled deeply and blew out a steady stream of fire that flowed along the ground like liquid as it headed straight for Marlucia's flank.

Marlucia stopped quickly on his feet and turned around while wildly swinging his blade at the stream of fire. With a sideways swipe he yelled out: "ridairekushon!" (Redirection) And as if on command a cold blast of wind was generated in the air, sweeping away the prone line of fire like a broom would sweep away dirt.

"That's not enough!" Marlucia said right before he charged at Kakashi who, on impulse, took out a kunai in order to defend himself. When Marlucia reached Kakashi, he struck at him with several quick and fluid slashes. His slices were like water, light, quick and fluid yet powerful at the same time. Kakashi was instantly put on the defensive end of the bout between the two.

_'Fuck...his fast!' _Kakashi thought as he ducked down in order to evade Marlucia's horizontal swipe, he instantly retaliated with upward jab aimed at Marlucia's face, which was blocked by the shaft of Marlucia's scythe. There the two stood with both their weapons interlocked and their arms rose along with them in the air as if they were praying some manic battle-produced prayer.

Marlucia smiled as he felt the vibrations given off by Kakashi when the copy-nin's knees began to buckled, showing that Marlucia was winning this brief battle of strength. "Looks like you're having some trouble, eh Hatake?" Marlucia then let out a small chuckle.

"Tch, haven't you learned anything from that last attack-?" Marlucia's eyebrow rose but an inch above its normal position. "-there's two of us here remember?" Marlucia's eyes widened and he winced in pain as he felt Larxene's foot smash directly into the side of his head. He could have sworn he heard someone laugh right before he was thrown several feet off to the side.

Larxene landed on the floor, with unnatural grace, hitting the ground so lightly that her entire visage could be compared to that of a feather's.

"Do you get it now Kakashi; attacks like that won't work on Marlucia." Kakashi just nodded.

"I understand fully what you meant now; he's stronger than I had anticipated he would be. It seems that even though ice manipulation is his area of attack using solely an arsenal of fire based jutsu won't do us any good." He looked over to where Haku was, his vision impaired by the weight of fatigue, and noticed that she was speaking....to Zabuza. "And I doubt that Haku will be joining us anytime soon, so I guess that rings her out for the moment." He then turned his weary gaze onto to Naruto's body, which lay not too far off from Haku's position, and silently grimaced. The boy's body was motionless, which did not aid in boosting his assumption that Naruto was still actually alive. "And by what I've seen Naruto's out for the count."

Kakashi then looked at Larxene. "Until things over there get settled, it's just you and me."

"Then I guess it is..."Larxene responded. Larxene then looked at Marlucia who was just getting up from her last attack; she had about ten seconds to come up with a plan before he was on her and Kakashi again. A tight ball of frustration formed in her chest; sapping away the very confidence that made her think that they could win this match, for every second that passed the small ball became larger and larger. She couldn't bear to take it, so she gulped, swallowing the ball down her throat and replacing it with another ball of false courage.

She knew that they had a chance of beating him, but still, it still irked her that Marlucia had gotten kicked right in the temple by one of, what she would call her hardest kick ever and yet he was still able to get up. She doubted that Naruto himself wouldn't make a recovery from a kick like that in such a short time like Marlucia had. That bit of information was enough to cause the tight ball form in her chest again.

"Kakashi, get ready, he's already up."

"Then don't let him get close...." But it was too late, the instant Marlucia was up he was one them. He came before Larxene and swiped horizontally; she ducked and attempted to sweep him off his feet but pulled back when he quickly spun his scythe around and brought the blade toward her legs, almost lopping them off if she had not dodged. He jumped forward raised his weapon in the air about to bring it down on her and cut her body cleanly in two halves.

As the blade neared her head Kakashi appeared in front of her and knocked Marlucia's scythe to the side, causing him to lose balance. Larxene took this as opportunity to attack, so she rushed past Kakashi and delivered a punch straight to Marlucia's face.

She expected the man to fall back but was surprised when he didn't; rather he grabbed onto her arm and pulled her in, giving to her a punch to the stomach. The punched aired her out, and made her take a step back, only to be pulled back in and smashed into the ground.

Kakashi was next, Marlucia turned and arrived face to fist with Kakashi and was launched into a backward stumble. "I grow tired of this." Marlucia yelled as he gained stability and released a set of three tendrils of ice.

As the ice approached Kakashi's fingers went to work, forming several hand signs. "Let's try this once more." He said before he deeply inhaled a mass of air. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He blew out yet another fireball, except this one was larger than the first, much larger and twice as strong.

The ice couldn't help but melt away in the giant body of fire; much to Marlucia's displeasure he was forced to dodge. A smile of amusement was on his face as he simply jumped out of the way of the approaching inferno, launching himself high into the air as if he was being propelled by some outside force. And as quickly as he had come up, he was on the ground and charging at Kakashi once again.

Because of his heightened sense of anticipation that he sharingan bestowed onto him Kakashi was sure that dodging Marlucia's physical attacks wouldn't at all be a hindrance to his chances at victory. He was on the defensive again, dodging and ducking the swipes and slashes made by Marlucia's frozen scythe. Marlucia was a froward opponent who wouldn't go down without a fight, that much was clear, but Kakashi knew that if he played his cards right he and Larxene could still win.

That still brought up the subject of Larxene, who was now currently laid out on the floor, inches deep inside of the hard cement surface of the bridge.

Kakashi parried Marlucia's blade with his kunai, creating the peculiar clang of metal against ice. At this rate his only form of support until Naruto or Larxene resurfaced back to a world of consciousness was.....Haku. As he blocked another blow he spun around, while at the same time getting a proper look at Haku's position sliced Marlucia's arm causing a spray of blood to ensue.

He jumped back several feet. After he'd spun he saw exactly were Haku was. Twenty meters to his left, a bit farther down the bridge. He turned his head toward her. "Could you hurry it up over there?", he yelled. It was a fact that Haku was still very much engrossed in her futile conversation with Zabuza. What she was saying to him he didn't know, he just filed it under the file that said, 'I'm sorry for stabbing you with a huge ice spear'; that one.

The brown-haired girl brought her gaze away from Zabuza, making the transition to Kakashi, her eyes watery and soaked. It was obvious that she needed more time with the ex-kiri Nin whom she had declared her surrogate father. From her position Haku nodded and turned back to Zabuza, gazing at his weak expression.

"Zabuza-sama....I.....I'm so sorry, I didn't want to do that. But...." She was cut off by a deliberate cough. She resumed. "Please...can you ever forgive me?" The hope that Zabuza would somehow forgive her, thus explicating, her was the only thing in her eyes at that moment.

She looked into Zabuza's eyes, he didn't respond. In fact he hadn't responded to her the entire time she had been trying to explain herself. In fact whenever she would say something and he wouldn't respond she would hold her breath waiting for his answer that never came. Sadly she eventually had to release her breath and then go on to the portion of her confession. It made her wonder whether or not Zabuza, at the moment, did not harbor the ability to actually generate speech or if he had been purposely ignoring her out of anger and frustration.

Hopefully for the sake of her mental well-being it wasn't the latter. The thought of Zabuza shunning her away was too much of a burden for her to carry for the rest of her life.

"Zabuza-sama....please...won't you answer me?" His eyes were pale, for his pupil had already begun to lose the artificial golden color that made them so intimidating. Fear once again gripped at her insides, clutching deeply at her heart, which was her most obvious point of vulnerability. Hope was brought back to life and sparkled in her eyes when she saw Zabuza's eyes shift onto her face.

She was solely focused on Zabuza, completely drowning out any other sounds going on around her. All was silent. "Haku-chan....don't pressure yourself over what happened.", he said. His eyes went to the sky and then back to Haku. "You had to do it", he said releasing a bloody cough, "I only wish that it hadn't been this way. I wish I could've realized what I was becoming beforehand; I guess my greed and thirst for revenge blinded me." He compiled his entire being together which was enough to assemble a slight smile on his mask-less face. His sharpened teeth reminded Haku of what he was becoming, a monster, and it was obvious that he wouldn't be following that path anymore.

Haku reciprocated his smile with one of her own; the fear was slowly being dragged away, like game that was claimed after a big hunt. As gruff as his voice was his words were still....warm and compassionate through Haku's ears. "So does this mean that you forgive me?" Haku sniffled out.

Zabuza looked away from her and closed his eyes. He brought up his hands to his chest, a peaceful expression on his face. "Yeah.....I forgive....." The rest of his sentence died out for he had already slipped away.

Sorrow was a word that could often only be attributed to the most GRIM (that's me) times. This was definitely one of those times. The sorrow Haku felt was too much for her to handle, she needed a away to release it. At the moment a distant clang sounded off behind her, she turned and saw Kakashi and Marlucia in yet another interlocked struggle for dominance. Now she had something, no correction, _someone_ to take her frustration out on and it would be for all the right reasons.

"Marlucia...this is your entire fault." Tears rushed from her face and down onto the ground. "I promise ....for Zabuza, that today. You will die!" Quickly she stood up and spun fully around on her heels. Then her fingers went to work moving like tiny accurate little robotic devices that were designed solely for the sake of performing complicated hand seals.

"I swear to it!"

----

Sakura was seriously bored right now.....all she had been doing was sitting around the house watching Tazuna do....well nothing. Being a bodyguard sure sucked. At least she was with her Sasuke-kun, if she had to sit with a smelly old man all day then at least her vision wouldn't get hungry for all she had in front of her was raven-haired eye candy.

Sasuke himself was pretty much in sync with Sakura. He was bored out of his mind as well; it was obvious that they wouldn't run into any trouble at Tazuna's home. There was no action for him, nothing at all. He wanted to be where the fight was...where Naruto was. The thought actually made him a little bit jealous of the blond boy. It brought his mind back to his school academy days when Naruto was the bane of his class, the trash, the one nobody wanted to be affiliated with. As Sasuke continued to mentally denigrate the boy he asked himself a question: Where did that all go? He was the supposed to be the one fighting not the Dobe Naruto.

He mentally cursed himself for not being strong enough; his not being in the midst of battle still meant that he still possessed the one thing that he knew could hold him back: weakness. Enough was enough; if he ever wanted to get stronger he would have to do it by any means necessary, even it that meant going to Naruto and personally asking the boy's permission to train with him. That wasn't the only way though, he still had Kakashi, and considering the fact that the man had somehow gained the esteemed Uchiha bloodline doujutsu, the sharingan, it gave him a factor that made him all the more mysterious. And in the past whenever Sasuke saw something mysterious his first reaction was to investigate it. So he steeled his resolve while sitting on the soft plushy fabric of Tsunami-san's couch. After this battle Sasuke would request that Kakashi would give him extra training lessons aside from his normal ones with the rest of his team. It was either that or......Naruto.

Now all he had to do was find away to kill some time, because sitting under Sakura's perturbing gazed wasn't what he called a good time.

----

Euphoric was the one word that described Marlucia's deposition at the moment. Right now he was hacking and slashing away at the silver-haired man he knew as Kakashi Hatake without any intention of stopping or even slowing down. He noticed that Kakashi wasn't having a hard enough time of dodging his physical attacks than he had anticipated he would. With his sharingan Kakashi basically had no trouble at all when it came to swiftly dodging and ducking, it had an inverse affect on Marlucia however. Wildly swinging his blade like that was beginning to tire him out in a quicker time than dodging was beginning to exhaust Kakashi. This was probably what Kakashi was trying to do but he wouldn't fall for that.

So he decided to not only demonstrate his prowess in physical taijutsu but his skill in utilizing ice as a weapon as well. For the past twenty-five minutes Marlucia had been keeping Kakashi on his toes, coming at him with fists and feet while delicately weaving in his own special ability of ice manipulation into his battle tactics as well.

By the looks of it Kakashi was tired; he couldn't deny that he was overcome by a light grope of fatigue. But for the most part it looked as if Kakashi was beginning to tire out quicker than he was.

Kakashi narrowly dodge as Marlucia's blade hit nothing but the air. Like a ball Kakashi rolled back separating the two by about ten feet.

With insane speed Marlucia dashed at Kakashi kicked the man in his chest, followed by a quick spin and a slash across the arm, drawing an amount of blood onto the floor that was something for Kakashi to worry about. As the warm crimson liquid flowed down his arm Kakashi cursed and jumped back, holding tight to his arm.

"You won't escape......I WILL kill you. Too bad you don't have anyone to save you!" Marlucia spun his scythe around his body, twirling it with masterful dexterity. As he came to a stop he pointed the curved blade of the weapon at Kakashi. "You're done", he said while flashing out of Kakashi's vision. Astounded by the man's speed, Kakashi blinked intensely. He couldn't tell what was happening; he figured that his not being able to see Marlucia wasn't due to the man increasing his speed but rather it was just an unfortunate lapse of ability in his sharingan. His body was beginning to wear down; if that wasn't it then his sharingan would have definitely been able to see Marlucia's movements. It was rare occasion that Kakashi ever went up against someone who had enough speed to bamboozle his eye, but Marlucia was the type of opponent that could obviously declared as 'rare'.

His sharingan was high quality and he took pride in that fact; but right now his high quality sharingan was looking pretty low.

The value of is eye was down-graded another level as he felt the tip of Marlucia's scythe on his neck. _'I can't believe that I let him slip past me like that!' _Kakashi thought as he tried to turn around.

"Don't move.....if you do I'll slit your throat, no, I'll lop off your entire head! There's nothing you can do.....your teammates are all 'preoccupied' at the moment and you....you're not doing that much better yourself.", Kakashi gritted his teeth as Marlucia stifled out a slight chuckle, " You call yourself shinobi, ha! Pathetic, that's what you are, I wish I could say that this was a challenge but.......well it wasn't. Oh, how rude of me, is there anything that _you_ would like to say before you die?"

Even though Kakashi could not see it he knew that Marlucia was smiling and his grin was definitely smug. But that wouldn't stop him from smiling either, for just as he was about to open his mouth, he sensed something that made him pull his lips back into a smile. "Yes there is something that I would like to say. Are you sure that you are the only one with the power to control ice?"

His smile widened as he felt Marlucia's scythe being removed from his neck. Marlucia backed away. "What the hell is that supposed to mean you bastard?" It was actually funny, Kakashi was actually a bastard, he never really met his father therefore he did not know him plus his dad was dead, so yeah he was a big bastard.

"Oh nothing, it's just that I think that you shouldn't really too much on that scythe of yours, that's all."

"Shut up.....you weakling!" Marlucia reared his scythe into the air and plunged it down at Kakashi's neck. But right before the icy blade connected....it shattered..... Like glass hitting a brick wall. Kakashi's smile grew wider under his mask as he turned around to see a shocked Marlucia standing before him with his weapon nowhere to be found.

"I told you."

"What the hell did you do?" However Kakashi did not respond he simply pulled out kunai, and before Marlucia could react he plunged to blade deep into the brown haired man's chest, causing him to look at him while spitting up some blood. "H-how did you....?" Kakashi still said nothing he just took out another kunai and stuck it inside Marlucia's stomach.

"Humph, you're finished...", Kakashi said as he walked away, slipping his hands in his pockets and leaving Marlucia to drop to his knees and bleed himself out. "Haku...I'll let you have the final blow....."

Marlucia's eyes widened. "H-Haku...?!".....Who the hell was that? He knew he had heard the name Haku before but, for some reason he couldn't seem to connect the person's face to the name. Slowly Marlucia reached to pull out the two kunai protruding from his body, slowly he grasped the first one and his hand jerked from a sudden pinch of pain.

When he inspected his hand he discovered two slender needles, inches deep into his skin: senbon. A small trail of blood dripped from the two wounds on his hand.

"Hello, Zerbast-teme." Marlucia's head snapped to the side when he heard a voice that was obviously behind him. "Do you know who I am?" Slowly Marlucia shook his head. "What a pity, my name is Haku; I'm Zabuza's....friend. But not anymore, because of what you did to him! You will pay for that...., he was like a father and now he's gone...because of you. Don't bother saying anything teme, you words mean nothing to me."

Then it came, he now remembered who Haku was, he remembered her face, her hair, her clothing everything. To think that she of all people would betray Zabuza by joining the other side. By looking at her before and her reaction to Zabuza's presence he could tell that the girl was obviously attached to the man who had served as his underling while he was alive. This was the perfect chance for him to gain an advantage, he new that she would be hesitant to kill him if she still held onto a guilty conscience. So, he decided to test out his clever little theory.

"Maybe my words won't mean a thing...but maybe you own words will. Are you so sure that you can strike me down? It's my fault that Zabuza's dead....so you have every right to kill me, but," He chuckled," it is also your fault that he is dead as well. So answer me.... does that make you any better than I am?"

Haku took a step back, her blood felt cold, as cold as the very ice she was able to manipulate. She had never thought of it that way...was there another way for her free Zabuza, maybe she should have attacked Marlucia first instead of Zabuza. Her hands began to shake as she slowly pulled out three senbon, aligning them with her knuckles. "D-Don't try to trick me....I-I had no...choice."

"Or did you....Haku, are you telling me that you could not have redirected my attack back at me instead of at Zabuza?"

It all made sense to Haku, she could have done that, she could have saved Zabuza and aimed the attack at Marlucia. Then, it was her fault....she was the reason. Zabuza didn't die because of Marlucia, he was put to death solely because of Haku's inability to stay calm and choose the best course of action at the time. Zabuza was dead because of her carelessness.

"It's my fault....I could saved him." Haku said as she dropped her three senbon. She began to cry, taking a few steps away from Marlucia.

"Yes, I'm absolutely right, aren't I? It's your fault....and for that little girl, you will pay. Its only fair to Zabuza." Marlucia's voice had taken a colder tone now, much like ice. He spoke with such stinging clarity that it forced Haku to wince behind her mask whenever he so much as enunciated a word. Now he was standing up, not only did Haku wince but she backed up even further as well.

Marlucia stood and turned a crazed expression on his face. "I never thought that I would have to use this but I hadn't planned on getting this injured." He gently pulled out the two senbon, followed by a less gentle extraction of the two kunai. When the blades came out they were followed by two squirts of blood that pooled down in front of his feet.

"Haku.....I won't be the one dying today you and you friends will but first might I ask. How exactly was my scythe broken, do you have some other unique power or perhaps you have the same power as me and can control ice, tell me which one is it?"

"The latter" Haku responded.

"Impressive." Marlucia made a mental note; that he would not be extracting two Kekkei Genkai today but three. "Nevertheless, I'm sure your mastery over the element won't do you much good, after all you are being compared to me." After that highhanded remark Marlucia raised his hands and behind him appeared a vibrant armada of light refracting soldiers, no, these weren't soldiers. Sure they moved accordingly to his every command but they had no minds, these tiny particles dubbed white Sakura were nothing more than mere tools of destruction; weapons.

They were weapons that Marlucia would wield so that he may slaughter Haku where she stood. "Die!" Marlucia yelled out as jutted his hand out, along with it came three tendrils of glittering ice.

Haku couldn't move; she knew that if she didn't she would be done for. Her mind new very well the consequences that would befall her if her body failed to pull through and comply to what she wanted it to do and right about now her body was deaf because as much as she wanted to she wasn't moving at all.

The light shining from the crystal-like tendrils intensified on her face as they approached. She blinked when the glare blinded her but chose not to open her eyes again. If her body didn't want to move then this was the end for her. Waiting for her doom for what seemed like interminable amount of time, Haku's breathing began to quicken and a distant sinking feeling surfaced in the deep trenches of her innards. It caused her to crack open her eyelids.

What she expected to see was a blinding light; rather she saw nothing....but darkness. Out of shock Haku open her eyes and gasped when she saw that she was floating in nothing but darkness. And then in an instant it felt to her like she was being rocked and knocked about by the infinite shadows, carried away like a tiny pebble in a stream only to resurface back into the realm of light and matter which she fully knew and understood.

Before Haku knew it she was on her hands and knees, sweating and gasping for breath; standing next to her was none other than Larxene. The brown haired girl turned her head.

"You did this."

"Yeah, I'll explain it later. Right now there's something more important at hand that we need to deal with." Haku raised her eyebrow, her upper lip curled a bit.

"What?" She turned her head again when Larxene pointed out into the distance, where Marlucia was standing, laughing like a madman and blindly lashing his weapons about. "Oh that."

"What the hell is wrong with you.....why didn't you kill him when you had the chance? Listen I know that guy; he knows how to mess with your mind so don't believe anything that he says. No matter how much sense it may make to you, his words are not to be trusted, understood?" By now Larxene had already helped Haku up. They were positioned a moderately far distance away from Marlucia but they both still had no doubt that he knew where they were.

"Ok I understand, sorry I'll make sure that I won't fall for his tricks again." Haku slapped her cheeks twice, "I'll kill him this time. Wait-...."

"What?"

"Where's Naruto-ku...ahh...Naruto-san?" She had to be careful how she spoke of the boy when around her potential rival in love; to her it was obvious that Larxene was interested in Naruto for pretty much the same reasons she was, Larxene just did a better job of hiding it. Larxene, however, just raised her eyebrow with suspicion.

"He's....still unconscious. After he left, Kakashi woke me and now he's probably with Naruto as we speak. Until Naruto comes to we have to hold Marlucia off and I'm sure that special Kekkei genkai of yours will make this much easier than it has to be."

"Are you sure about that?" Haku asked, causing Larxene to raise her eyebrow once more.

"Yeah...why?"

"If it is going to be easier, how do you explain that?" Haku pointed toward Marlucia. When Larxene saw what Marlucia was doing her eyes widened. Now instead of striking blindly at the already damaged bridge Marlucia was now encased in a ball. A ball made of solid ice, which floated and shimmered like a disco ball in the 70's.

"Oh shit this isn't good. I never thought that he would ever use that here, he must be even more desperate than I thought!"

"What, What is he using?" The air gained a sudden chill and Haku could now see her breath.

"He's about to transform."

"What...he can do it too?" Larxene nodded and Haku grimaced. As the two girls continued to gaze at this psychedelic occurrence Kakashi appeared next to them with Naruto slung over his shoulder.

"Larxene, what the hell's happening?"

"He's going to change!" She replied. "He'll get stronger....I've only seen him do this once before and trust me he's a hell of a lot stronger than he is now. I just didn't expect him to use it, there's a great consequence when Saiki members merge with their weapons." Kakashi just looked at her, hoping that what she was saying was all part of some cruel twisted joke.

They all cringed as they felt a large amount of chakra being dispelled from within the ball of ice. This chakra was stronger than Marlucia's chakra from before; it was feral and wild.

Then they heard his voice. "Hahaha...............I didn't think that I'd have to use this. My injuries go against what I want my body to do, so I guess I'll just gain a new one! I'm impressed that you have all pushed me this far....true virtuoso's is what you could be called. But let it be known that your end has come!" A powerful gust of wind was generated from the ball, blowing outward and into the faces of the three shinobi forcing them to close their eyes.

"Kyoushin: Touketsu Mitsukai." (Resonance: Frozen Angel)

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................................................DAMN! Aren't I an asshole. My goodness to leave everyone just hanging like that. Wooot, I goodness. It just makes me.....want to cry...when I think about it. Give me a moment.

(Sniffle)

Anyway....Like I said in my first author's note, I said that I was going to bring back an old idea from the first story I ever made and what do you know it's back. For all those who didn't get a chance to read my very first fic, let me tell you that the idea was giving Naruto a split personality. I just wanted to hear your feedback on what you think of me bringing back the idea. If you want me to keep the idea as one of the dominant sub-plots send tell me in a review, if you don't well....do pretty much the same thing. Either way I'll get a review.

Ummm, what else ...... yes, I almost forgot the lists.....no I didn't I'm just saying that to make you think that I forgot them when in reality I actually......didn't.............for....get......them and now you........know that I was trying.......to..........trick you and that I.....was lying... o_o

I'll stop talking now.

Top five reviewers list.

Zaion Indulias

I.E.T.S.

Itachi's aprentice

Leaf Ranger

Chronostorm (in his review he used the word douche bag and that's awesome!)

NOW! Once again I say, these five people here, are badass. If you do not go onto their profiles and checkout the many story and story links on their pages you WILL not get the slightest amount of badass, THEREFORE making you all weak.... weak douches. Don't ya just love that word :Douche. Anyway Onto the new list. The person on my new list, the GUESS list is a person who not only has become a personal favorite reviewer of mine in the past but guessed what I planned to do in my next chapters.

The GUESS list champ for this chapter is.

xxxxxxxxXXXXXX: Weasal :XXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Technically he didn't guess what I was going to do in my next chapter but he did guess what I planned for Naruto to do in the future if my story. SO he is still awesome for that...not to mention badass. So GO onto his profile and check out what he's got there.

Now go ahead and tell me how I did in this chap and once again sorry for the long wait. Remember constructive criticism, no unnecessary insults.

Read and review

Next chapter: Finale amidst the ice

GrIm'S sTePpInG oUt


	13. Finale amidst the ice

Yeaaah boiiii

Man I am sooo freaking sorry about the wait on this story. Yeah I know it has been long but I have a good reason for it...so quit complaining. Anyway, the reason why it took me so long to get this was the fact that:

Wait for it....

Wait......Tada! I HAVE MADE A NEW STORY. It is called, Crimson Dawn: Uzumaki Naruto. I think it's a great story, however, I also want you to think that same thing that I'm thinking......I think. No but seriously, if you like stories where Naruto is a complete badass then, yeah this is fic for you! Read it and tell me what you think.

But going back to the main topic here which is the Sacred Mark; just want to say....this chapter will be good. And just because I made you all wait so long, I have prepared a special surprise and it's hidden somewhere in between this author's note and my ending author's note. And I'll tell you it's not something predictable like....."Oh crap Marlucia survives?" or-or "Naruto's insane side will spin out of control and he will become some freaking unstoppable force of insane nature. Absolutely not, what I have in store for you is something else, something bigger, and something- you guessed it- that I pulled straight out of my ass.

Have fun reading, and do not forget to review.

Enjoy mutha fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

He has changed, He has changed, He has changed (oooooohh ominous)

Dread was not the word that could even begin to explain how Haku felt now. She never thought that she would ever go up against a person with so much raw chakra.

The skin tightened around her eyes, as she was forced to narrow them; the bone-chilling gale blowing in her face was too much for her eyes to take. Slowly she turned over to Larxene; the blond-haired girl was wide-eyed and her lower lip hung loosely.

An odd sensation entered her mouth when her hair whipped itself into her mouth and she was forced to close it. The icy ball growing within the pits of her abdomen grew colder and colder forced her body to cringe and shake involuntarily.

"T-this can't be real...is it?" She asked into the air. Larxene who had barely heard what she'd said nodded.

"Yes this is very much real; this is about as real the Saiki gets." Larxene stood straight up; her forehead creased as she set her face into a scowl. "But, don't let this feeling get to your head. I know it can be a bit much and I doubt that it will get any better but I do know one thing for sure-" Haku's eyebrows rose a couple millimeters. "- that if you freeze under the pressure you'll definitely die." Larxene then turned fully and faced Haku. Although Larxene did not let Haku see it, she was actually very tense at the moment.

"H-how can you speak about this so nonchalantly?" Haku asked quickly. "Can't you feel the amount of power coming from within that-that thing?"

Larxene closed her eyes. "You are correct, I can fully sense the amount of chakra output being produced by Marlucia, and this would not be the first time. He's done this once before, and I pretty much reacted the same way you are right now, however."

"However?" Haku replied

"However, the difference between me then and me now is that I have support; you and Kakashi-san and..." Her voice drifted off as she glanced at Naruto. "...and Naruto as well. Know this; you are not alone, we're all here and the only way we can beat Marlucia is by doing it together, okay?"

Haku smiled and let out a low chuckle. To think that she was about to have a panic attack at a time like this; that was just insane. Feeling the need to show gratitude Haku gave Larxene a curt bow and thanked her for her inspirational words.

'Sorry about that-" she said while slipping on her mask which had been off until now. "I'm feeling very much relieved at the moment." A slight pressure formed on her shoulder; when she looked up she noticed that it was Larxene's hand resting their gently.

"I'm glad that I could help." The blond girl said happily; the warmth in her words helped melt the cold ball in her stomach, bringing with them a strong sense of camaraderie. Even if they both were both infatuated with the same person, Haku knew that she and Larxene would form a great bond when they returned to Konoha.

And they would return to Konoha, everyone would.

"If you two are quite done over there I think we have a problem." Their heads snapped to the sound of Kakashi's voice and they both brought their gaze upon the mask wearing Jonin. He was shaking as if a personal earthquake was rocking his body alone.

_'Kakashi is in no condition to fight; most likely from that gash on his arm.' _Larxene mentally concluded while staring at the large wound that was still dripping with blood. "Kakashi, are you alright."

He nodded shakily. "Yeah, I'm just a little light headed from all of the blood loss, but that's not the problem-that is..." Kakashi stuck his uninjured hand out toward Marlucia's frozen cocoon. Haku and Larxene allowed their eyes to follow his hand.

They both gasped when they saw what was happening. The icy sphere was beginning to crack, producing a sound that was most unpleasant to the ears. For every time the ball crack, it felt ass if someone was poking their ears with a senbon needle.

"Oh I see, so we don't have much time to act, do we?" Haku asked.

"Indeed we don't" Kakashi responded; he then gently placed Naruto, who up until now was slung over his shoulder onto the ground. "We have to brace ourselves."

"Kakashi you are no position to fight as you are, wait here and treat your wounds first. In the meantime, Haku-chan and I will...subdue Marlucia."

Kakashi nodded and the two girls turned their full attention to Marlucia's still cracking cocoon.

The top of the sphere was quickly withering away as the ice began to crumble inward. There was a brief pause, and then two massive wings shot out from top of the ice.

"Wings, yes I remember." Haku quickly turned at the sound of Larxene's voice. "Saiki members actually are given two names that reflect themselves and their abilities; Marlucia's other name was the Frozen Angel." As she said this, the two wings suddenly sprung to life and with two giant flaps, they lifted the ball into the air.

Then everything stopped, the wind, the massive chakra output; everything.

"Your time in the realm of the living is up." At that moment, the sphere exploded, sending in every direction a rapid onslaught of frozen shrapnel, forcing all in its way to move. Whether it was an attack or merely a coincidence did not matter to Larxene, but she knew that they all would have been caught in the blast had Haku not stepped in and stop the ice before it reached them.

The mask Nin let the shards of ice drop to the ground, producing a sound like a rock going through a glass turned and faced Larxene.

"Are you all ok?" Haku asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Yeah, thanks to you." Larxene replied, she then looked past her and saw in the distance Marlucia's floating silhouette gently falling to the ground, mimicking the grace of a wind swept feather. "He's finished his transformation; Haku-chan for now it's just you and me, can you handle it?"

"Of course." She said; all traces of insecurity that previously permeated her tone were now gone, replaced with more than sheer determination. "But before we begin I would like to ask, is that really Marlucia?"

"Indeed it is, he may look different but trust me that is the same manipulative bastard from before." The change Marlucia had undergone was drastic indeed. The brown-haired man who they one fought no longer stood before them. This Marlucia was different; he seemed more refined and restrained; as if his body and mind had experienced some degree of ascension. This lead Haku's mind to wander on the mystery of just how much Marlucia's second name, the 'frozen angel', really applied to his transformation. Had the man really taken the likeness and form of an angel?

His skin was terribly pale, almost to a point where it was white. He was bare-chested with his black Saiki jacket tied around his waist, directly over the black pants that he wore. His hair had changed from light brown to a dark icy blue; his eyes had done the same and she could tell by the structure of his body that he had gotten bigger. The previous wounds on his body had disappeared, having left no trace of ever being there.

However, what really stole Haku's attention and led her to believe that Marlucia had become exactly what his name claimed for him to be, was his wings. Two massive wings protruded from his back; they were of ice and because of that, every time he moved them the sound of glass grinding against glass could be heard.

Haku grimaced; this man was no angel, she was sure of it. However, he was an exceptional deceiver; to think that she had almost believed that Marlucia had become a real angel.

Larxene was first to speak to the angelic facade. "Marlucia-teme, you must be really desperate if you went to these lengths. To think that you merged with your weapon, here of all places."

The now blue-haired man said nothing in return; he simply smiled and extended his arm out to the two girls. "Your comrades don't look too fit for battle." He said pointing at Naruto and Kakashi; he then brought his finger to the two girls. "Is it only you two who will battle me? Such a shame, this fight will have such a boring result."

Smiling behind her mask Haku took a step forward. "Don't sound so arrogant you bastard; as we are now, the both of us are more than a match for you!"

"Oh really?" Marlucia replied, his light blue eyebrows rising in amusement. "Then come at me." The sight of his calm face and demeanor caused Haku to harbor a bit doubt in her words. She hesitated and glanced at Larxene, who just nodded.

She knew this was going to be hard and she probably would come out of this with more than one scar; but it was worth it if it meant ridding the earth of the person like Marlucia.

Haku had always wondered about the phrase "you could here a pin drop" and whether or not it was exaggerated, but the silence that had settled over them at that moment made the phrase seem all the more plausible. Being one who never broke the silence Haku got into a low crouch, not making so much as a single sound.

Then the pebbles under her feet jumped as she charged at Marlucia with blinding speed. For now, it was just her and Larxene, at least until Kakashi finished tending to himself or Naruto regained consciousness. Taking the obvious hint, Larxene registered Haku's sudden movement as her cue to move into action.

Larxene dropped onto one knee like a weight, forcing out of the ground a light upchuck of dust. She slapped her palms together and her shadow began to fluctuate violently, like a flower in a hurricane.

"Yarikage!" (Spear's shadow) She shouted.

As Haku was a mere ten feet from Marlucia, she suddenly felt three projectiles-like things zoom past her face from behind. In front of her she could see, what looked like black pointed tentacles flying past her face. Knowing that this was the work of Larxene, she made haste and increased her speed, clearing the gap between her and Marlucia in less then a second.

As if a flash of lightning had dropped her off, Haku was in front of Marlucia; she was surprised that he bore no sudden reaction to her speed; not many could do that. Haku had never tried to get physical when she fought; it was always the one hit kill with her, occasionally she would slowly drag out a fight. However, this was different; she needed to wound Marlucia as quickly as possible.

Knowing this the masked Nin stamped on the ground and around her open palm formed a pointed blade of ice. With the same speed as before, she jabbed at Marlucia with her bladed fingertips.

"Simple tactics won't help you that much." He said, grabbing hold of the girl's wrist before her frozen weapon did any damage. Haku then gasped, carried by his foot as he kicked her away; however, it did nothing; Haku landed on her feet.

As soon as the her padded brown sandals hit the ground she dropped down, falling gracefully onto her stomach and allowing Larxene's three shadows to fly right over her head.

"Predictable." Marlucia said as he folded his wings in front of him to block; but when he placed them in position, he felt an odd sensation and his wings slowly opened themselves "What is this." He said as he glanced at Haku who was on the ground with her hands that were no longer covered in ice, positioned in an odd fashion.

He grunted as he felt his wings slowly opening up, exposing his bare flesh to the fury of Larxene's shadows. Marlucia's lips tilted as he let a small smirk onto his face. "Have you forgotten that I have more than one way of blocking?" He outstretched his arm, opening his palm. "Aisu Engo!" From the ground sprouted a frosted wall that intercepted the shadows, catching them like kunai into a rotting tree stump.

Haku silently cursed as she jumped back toward Larxene, who had retracted the three shadows from Marlucia's shield, slowly letting them fall to the ground as slither back to her and once again become her original shadow.

"Haku-chan, he's way above our level right now, but that doesn't mean that we can't still beat him. Here we can utilize your Kekkei Genkai but for us to do that we need to be in sync, got it?"

Haku did not respond for nearly five seconds until she nodded her head. "I think we need to get slightly more physical here, catch my drift?".

The sound of shifting glass broke their conversation, cutting through the air like a shuriken and fully grasping their attention. Upon closer inspection, they both concluded that Marlucia's wings were producing the sound. He flapped with them once, bring forth a chilling wind; Haku's lips suddenly felt as if they were drained of all moisture from the cold breeze. His wings then began to flap over and over a again, with each movement a new breeze

"If all you plan on doing is standing there, then I guess that I will just have to come to you both!" Marlucia's wings suddenly increased in tempo and like a car, revving up its engine Marlucia was now kicking up a chilly gale. He inched forward and launched himself at the two girls with amazing speed.

In less then a second he was in front of them both. "You can't possibly hope to beat an angel now can you?" He said coldly. His icy palms quickly wrapped around their necks and he held them suspended in the air. He stood there silently and let his hands slowly sap away their life, content with just smirking at them malevolently. This was the type of power that he loved, the power that when he used, he was damn near unstoppable.

No person could stand up to him at this moment, and these two would be the first to find out why.

"I think I'll kill you both with some finesse." He said before he lightly hopped into the air, letting his wings carry him higher with two powerful glassy beats. As he rose, Haku's mask fell onto the ground, splitting on impact. As he rose he gazed into the air of his two victims; such beautiful girls, it was really a shame that he would have to kill them like this. Then the thought occurred to him; would one who really calls himself an angel really do something so cruel?

Yes, without a doubt, Marlucia was ready to kill them both and he did not care for what consequences would pursue him after. Whether it be Zexin-sama lashing out at him for divulging his second form so carelessly or Lark Leones, who he knew would attempt to kill him in order to avenge his sisters death if he did this.

None of that mattered to him right now all his mind was focused on was 'dispatching' these two into the afterlife. He brought their ears closer to his lips and while inclining his head he uttered to them a fake apology.

"La-La, it hurts me to do this but it must be this way, after all you are a traitor and your friend here has witnessed too much, therefore she must be killed." The man's tone seemed somewhat sympathetic but at the same time, she knew he was just taunting them.

"Reido" (Absolute zero)

With wide eyes, both girls strained and struggled as they suddenly felt the literal heat leaving out of them in order to make way for the freezing cold. It was as if Marlucia's hands had suddenly become two large blocks of dry ice. Marlucia smiled as he saw Larxene be the first to open her mouth and barely wheeze out a ghastly and inaudible cry.

The fine line of between life and death danced before Haku's eyes, she could see nothing but that line. Letting out choked grunt, her mind raced and brought itself around to memories of her mentor and friend, Momochi Zabuza. It was a shame that she did not avenge his death as she'd intended to, and she wished that things would have went differently; however as much as she wanted it to, the world did not work that way. The world was a cruel and unfair place, yet a smile still crept onto her lips with the fact that she was at least leaving to be with Zabuza.

A single tear slid down her cheek and froze in place from the chilling cold on her skin.

Reido, a sinister technique Marlucia created which consisted of him grabbing hold of his opponent and freezing their blood, bringing their core body temperature to sub-zero levels and slowly killing them from the inside out; tat really was not something you could call an angelic technique.

"Do you see my power....you traitors, for you two will only be the second and third to fall before it." Marlucia's smile stretched along his face, revealing teeth a white as snow. "In seconds you'll both be dead, I...!" Then as if someone had struck him, Marlucia's head flicked upward and his jaw dropped involuntarily.

His hands let go of Haku and Larxene and their numb bodies plummeted down toward the ground where they somehow stopped, as if caught by the wind, and gently fell to the ground. Kakashi immediately rushed to their aid, he was sure Marlucia would not come after him; his hands would be too full.

A terrible pain ran through Marlucia's back; just below the wings and implanted deep in his skin was a gauntlet, the same gauntlet that almost ended Zabuza's life earlier than it should have ended. It was attached to a chain that ran all the way down to the ground where it could be found partially wrapped around an awakened Naruto's arms.

"Namikaze....!" Marlucia spat out before he was violently dragged to the ground by the boy. Upon impact, the angel closed his eyes and when he opened them, he saw a group of six kunai in the air coming down at him, none of them hit him however, and they simply split before colliding with him and landed around him in a circle. "What is it that you are planning Namikaze?" His voice took on slight venom as he rose to his feet, his back still facing Naruto.

However, the sub-zero angel fell back to his knees as Naruto pulled him to the ground with a powerful jerk of his chain. His wings open themselves and outstretched to full length, if Naruto did not know who he was, he would have said that Marlucia looked like a frosted albatross.

"Shut your mouth!" Naruto spat. "What you've done is unacceptable and I won't allow you to continue living." A devilish smirk spread his lips and he began unraveling his chains, letting them fall like a mass of coins.

"Namikaze let me assure you that any scheme that you may be planning will not work. However, your attempts amuse me; I can see that this intricate arrangement of kunai is not just for show. But just for the sake of it, I will let you carry out whatever strange jutsu you are planning." Naruto shook his head at the amount of arrogance Marlucia held for himself; if only the man knew just what he was in for.

"Fine then I will." Naruto said while slipping out a kunai. "But let me assure you Marlucia, that you will regret your words and your actions." Naruto knelt down in front of the tangled mess of chains that lay before him. "I do not know what it is that you did to yourself while I was unconscious-" Naruto scanned Marlucia's body, sizing it up with a quick rise and fall of his head. "-But, let it be known that you aren't the only one who can change."

Naruto's hand rose and then fell with the kunai in his hand, lodging it in between the iron links of his gauntlet's chain. He sensed that Marlucia's blue eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch. Like water through broken dam, chakra flowed through Naruto's hand and through the kunai, traveling up the chain and hitting Marlucia in the back.

Marlucia cringed as he felt a hot pain implant itself in his back, and when he tried to remove the metal claw from his back, he noticed that he could not move his arm. "What is th-" it then occurred to the man that he should observe his surroundings and once he did he noticed the six kunai all fixed around him in a circle, a perfect circle. That was just too suspicious to pass by and the fact that he now could not move meant that something was up. His head flicked to the side upon hearing Naruto laugh.

"How do you like my nervous overload network, I won't bother explaining it to you so don't bother asking." The blond walked up, leaving the kunai lodged in the ground and approached one of the six kunai. With expert dexterity, he plucked the metal the blade from the ground and jammed it into one of the metal links of his gauntlet chains, much like he had done before. "Open the floodgates."

Marlucia could see that there was something odd about this formation, the fact that he could barely move was proof of it. It was like he could not think straight, his body and mind were disharmonious and something was messing with his senses. He looked around and upon further observation, he could see that the six kunai were all glowing and connected by a single string of chakra. Now he could not move at all, there was nothing restricting him from doing so, but for some reason the odd sensation messing with his body had grown stronger once the kunai began glowing.

"Namikaze, now that you have me trapped, what do you plan to do?"

"Just wait and see." Said Naruto's voice from behind him.

The blond, however, had not taken immediate action upon his words. Instead, he approached Kakashi, who was kneeling before Haku and Larxene. Both girls had almost taken the full force of Marlucia's attack; he had no doubt that if he had not woken up at that moment, both girls would be dead and frozen. Frozen like beautiful petite figurines of ice.

Naruto eyed Kakashi, flashing on his geostigma and showing him a bit of the rage that his mind harbored upon seeing Larxene and Haku in their condition. It had seemed to the cyclopean Jonin that Naruto had attained all erstwhile composure and was no longer influenced by the insanity that once plagued his mind. Most likely it was due to Zabuza's passing, however, it still appeared as if all signs of the feral chakra had not disappeared from Naruto's body; there was still a scintilla of insanity hanging on his facial expression. Kakashi could tell by the way Naruto twitched every now and then that the boy had not fully recovered from using that insane chakra.

"Naruto, what are planning to do? Don't try and beat him by yourself." Naruto merely glanced down at Kakashi's arm and the bloody medical bandages he had wrapped it in. "This is nothing, I can still fight."

"I know, nevertheless, I want you to stay here and help these two out. Even if you could fight, you'd only be getting in my way." Kakashi's eye widened.

"Are you serious, you honestly expect me to let my student just run into battle against an opponent that is several times stronger than he is? Not a chance Naruto, I know your power and what it is that you are exactly capable of and trust me, your power isn't enough to defeat Marlucia as he is now."

Naruto stuck his finger out and pointed it directly at Kakashi's head. "No, Kakashi-sensei; even if I can't beat him, try to remember what it was that I said.

The silver-haired man's forehead creased as he tried to recall what it was that Naruto had said that was so important.

_'But, let it be known that you aren't the only one who can change.' _Naruto's words replayed repeatedly in his mind and he tried to exact out of them, some reasonable meaning. Every time he did so though it brought his mind to one conclusion that he hoped would not be the true meaning: Kyuubi. Were Naruto's words meant as a subtle premonition, indicating that he was about to change himself and manifest his body in the form of a miniature nine-tailed fox.

The thought caused Kakashi to ponder on exactly how much of a connection Naruto had with his prisoner, hopefully the world would not imitate his mind by choosing the worst-case scenario and apply it to the near future.

"Naruto, y-you said that he wasn't the only one who could change, but what do you-" He was cut off when Naruto simply turned around.

"Just watch." He said smoothly. "All I need you to do is work on a way to defrost these two, or else they won't be alive for much longer."

"Sure, but if you are in trouble I will not hesitate to help you, understood?"

"Understood", a smile hit Naruto's face when he heard the slight shifting sounds of Kakashi performing hand seals.

"Katon: Tainetsu." (Fire release: body heat) As Naruto began walking away, Kakashi outstretched his hands over Haku and Larxene's bodies. His hand hovered lightly above their faces; there skin was cold and had taken an almost snowy quality. Kakashi's palms were glowing a bright red as his jutsu caused his hands to radiate heat.

Of all the devastating and destructive fire jutsu that he knew, he never would have guessed that he would actually use this jutsu. Luckily, he retained the memory of such minor fire jutsu; anything else and he would have surely burned the two girls under his palms.

"Good luck, Naruto." Kakashi said as he dropped his head down and concentrated on his current job of raising the body temperature of the two girls before him.

Naruto closed his eyes as he neared Marlucia, coming to a stop right in front of the man who still knelt on his knees with his head down. The sound of Naruto's footsteps caused Marlucia to lift his head. "Ah, you're back. Namikaze how was your conversation with your sensei?" The jovial tone in which Marlucia carried his words only seemed to further enrage Naruto; however, the boy did not let it show. "I suspect that you have some trick up your sleeve that you plan to unravel to me, so no further delay shall we begin?" A twisted smile formed on Marlucia's pale maw revealing white teeth.

"You know, you are absolutely correct, no more delay. Let this begin.....after I show you my other side." Marlucia's eyebrow rose and a scowl formed on his face, his confusion was clearly made visible to Naruto. "You have no idea what it is that I'm talking about, do you? Fine I'll show you." Naruto gazed into the air, and lifted his arms up to his sides, he then closed his eyes.

**"Naruto, are you ready, I've been keeping this insane chakra locked up for some time now and its starting to become really annoying." **Kyuubi's voice sounded a bit strained. The pseudo demon had been holding back his other side's chakra this entire time, now it was time to release it all. Naruto silently gave Kyuubi the mental ok to go ahead and let go.

_'Are you ready?' _Naruto asked

_'Of course I am, I am you remember?' _

_'Good, now show me what you can do.' _He replied. '_Kyuubi release it, now."_

**"Alright....get ready." **What ensued for Naruto was nothing short of overwhelming, it was as if he had gotten heavier. Chakra, insane chakra was definitely not his forte; in one large burst of energy, the insane chakra that Naruto had developed due to Zabuza's arrival had come back to him in one massive piece. He closed his eyes, disturbed by the feeling of the crazy power; slowly he could feel it - his insanity, leaving him. In seconds, he would be devoid of any rational thought and his mind would evacuate into his conscience to make way for....his other personality.

Naruto let out a screeching cry into the air, which later turned into uncontrolled laughter. "Hehehe, more.....power, I can't take it...ha-ha. Kakashi was completely lost; Naruto's insanity dying down wasn't it? In addition, Zabuza was dead, which should have freed him from the clutches of madness. The possibility donned on Kakashi that maybe the effects of Naruto's insanity had remained permanent.

Naruto was still able to effectively talk to him though. For all of that chakra to just suddenly explode out of him like that...was unusual. The answer as to why it did that kept eluding and evading Kakashi's mind until it got to a point where the Jonin simply gave up on trying to divulge it and just brought his attention back to properly defrosting Larxene and Haku.

_'What the hell is going on?' _He said as he concentrated on injecting warmth into the two adolescent girls before; a single bead of sweat slid in between his eyes and fell of his nose. Without looking Kakashi could tell that the chakra had gotten more unstable for every few seconds it would send itself out in waves. It reminded him of how Zabuza's chakra acted.......

"Wait it can't be!" If what Kakashi was thinking was correct than at the rate Naruto's chakra was changing, Naruto would soon begin to show traits similar to that of Zabuza when he was insane. Was that what he meant?

_'But, let be known that you aren't the only one who can change_.' The words bounced around in his head, he knew what Naruto said had some deeper meaning to it but there was no way that Naruto was going to transform much like Zabuza had... was there? Naruto could not truly want that, to become some huge hulking and grotesque animal.

"Naruto...do what you want, but if you go berserk and can't control yourself...I'll have to kill you as well." He said staring directly at the still screaming boy. He then heard someone cough and his head drifted down toward Larxene.

"D-don't, please don't kill him." She said faintly, her voice carried a nasty rasp that sounded like crunching paper. Partially frozen lungs would do that to a person. "He won't have to...." The rest of her sentence was left unfinished as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Wow, she must really have faith in him because from the looks of it-" He glanced back up. "It doesn't look he'll be able to control it at all."

This was starting to hurt now; the chakra had gone to a point where it was actually becoming painful for Naruto. His mind raced in all directions and his eyes boggled in his head. A tingling sensation made its way to the back of his head, it was beginning. It grew stronger and fiercer until it climaxed in his head. Bringing him a warm sensation where everything had went blank and his mind and body moved into a state of syncopated bliss. After that huge bout of insane pain, Naruto's mind now felt warm and fuzzy, it was like a mental orgasm. Yes and orgasm of the mind.

---- (Mindscape)

Naruto woke up with a jolt; he was in his mental room. Out of pure instinctual movement Naruto flicked his head left and right, yep this was his room all right. Looked toward the window where the ever-present Kyuubi seemed to be always standing.

"You're a light sleeper aren't you? Kyuubi said teasingly.

"Yeah yeah, cut the crap. I don't need that right n-.." He froze, "The storm died out?" When Naruto to a look out the window he noticed that the previous gale that previously would blow the windows open had disappeared not even leaving the slightest scintilla of malevolent winds.

"Ah, you noticed. He was the reason for it in the first place, your other side I mean. He caused the storm in order to get out attention and now that has already done that he chilled the storm."

"That makes no sense, he can't control this place."

"Not this place," Kyuubi replied, "But outside of this place. Beyond these castle walls is your sub-conscience, where he was created and since you have never visited that place he has control over it. It does not pose to you that much of a threat so I wouldn't worry myself over it." Naruto just nodded.

His mind was an astoundingly confusing place; he was surprised that he had never bothered to explore it.

Kyuubi walked over to him in his shock and offered him a hand. "Come, let us go into my room and we can watch the battle on my television." He said, holding a refined voice, which reminded him of the fictional characters called 'the British' that he used read about in one of his old bedtime stories. They lived in this weird place called Europe, and what was even weirder was that in the world where the British lived there was also a Japan there as well!

---- (outside world)

What Marlucia was seeing was a bit amusing. At one point the little blond kid had him trapped and know he was screaming, he had stopped just seconds ago; silent as if his body was devoid of a soul... or vocal chords for that matter.

"Child, will you free me so that we can battle each other or will you die by yourself beforehand?" In all honesty, what had happened was something that Marlucia had expected, he anticipated that Naruto would go insane again and start to show characteristics similar to Momochi Zabuza in his transformed state. However, that had not happened; what had happened next was something that Marlucia was not expecting. Instead of changing in body structure all the boy had done was change in skin tone, slightly darkened like a piece of caramel the Namikaze's skin had changed. His hair had changed as well; it too darkened at the tips.

There was one thing that did not change however; it was the terrible chakra being emitted. It had stayed the same, horrid and heavy. If he was, a normal person than it probably would have felt like gravity itself had increased tenfold. Luckily, there was not a person in this world that could label him as normal.

Slowly shaggier hair made way to reveal an activated geostigma and the Naruto looked at Marlucia. _'There's something different about him, it doesn't feel like that's the Namikaze at all. Even though he went insane, this Namikaze still seems different, more controlled, calm.'_ "Naruto, what is it that you have done to yourself?"

A slight chuckle escaped Naruto's lips. "Naruto isn't here anymore, he's probably sleeping right now.....," He paused, "Oh, never mind he's watching the battle right now as I speak. Anyway if you want to call by a name other than Namikaze or Naruto, then call me-", his palms pressed against his chin, "-call me... Zen." he said calmly.

"Alright, Zen, how about you let me go, and then we can fight."

Zen smiled, his insane chakra flaring. Despite all of the mad chakra coursing through him, he harbored an excited disposition. It was all due to who he was; in essence Zen was insanity and instability incarnate which did not explain why he chose to name himself after a word that meant goodness and virtue, perhaps he was mocking someone?

Meanwhile, Kakashi was having a hard time accepting what he had just heard. _'Did he just say that Naruto wasn't here? And just who the fuck is Zen!?' _Kakashi had a hard time trying to look away from Naru-... Zen, for his aura was just too different. Normally under the stress of that type of chakra Naruto would not have recovered so quickly, he would have fallen unconscious; which gave Kakashi no doubt that Zen was telling the truth and Naruto was not controlling that body. The only conclusion that Kakashi could extract from this was schizophrenia, Naruto had a split personality that he had not told anyone about and as of now, he was the only person who knew!

"Hurry up and win, Zen." He said.

"Marlucia-san, do you remember what happened the first time we fought?"

"Yes, In fact I do." Marlucia replied. "I wasn't even using my full strength back then and I still easily defeated...you, the other you."

Zen brought his fingers up and snapped and Marlucia was suddenly free from the strange binding that constricted him, his ability to move returning with the disappearing blue glow of the kunai and chakra strings.

He rose to his feet, and gave his wings a powerful flap. He then slowly pulled out the gauntlet embedded into his back and let it drop with a distinct clank. After a quick stretch of his limbs, Marlucia centered on his face a sinister grin.

"Zen, the time has come for our rematch, I'm guessing that even though you are different from Naruto mentally but you are not different from him physically."

"Correct, and what of it?" Zen replied, slowly placing his hand back at his side.

"Last time I almost killed Naruto in that body, surely that must mean that I can kill you as well."

"Come and try." Zen said smoothly.

"Then this time I won't allow you to live, either of you; I'll make sure that I extract your Kekkei Genkai today... neither you nor the Namikaze can stop...-" Marlucia suddenly charged forward, his body becoming nothing more than a blur until he stop directly in front of Naruto, "-My passion!" Marlucia raised his hand and his scythe formed in his right hand, quicker than it did before. "Die!" He said as he brought the blade down toward Zen's shoulder.

In the split second that Zen had to react, he had seen everything and he could still see everything as he easily caught stopped Marlucia's hand before the blade touched his shoulder. The blade hovered just above his shoulder, dangerously close to piercing some skin. The forced of the sudden block created a small dent around Zen's feet.

"How...did you..." Marlucia said, caught off guard, his voice was shaky.

"Hm, your passions huh, let's test exactly how strong your passion is!" Zen said as he parried Marlucia's hand away and while taking a step inward thrust his open palm into his chest. Marlucia grunted, but continued to stare into Zen's eyes; when he saw them flash a bright orange, he clenched his teeth tightly.

The air was knocked out of Marlucia's stomach as he was hit in the stomach by a diagonal pillar of stone and he was lifted into the air. He let his mouth open, releasing the air that was dangerously being forced out in one gasp. His vision hazed and in the brief millisecond of hotheadedness that he allowed his eyes to look away from Zen, the boy was gone. Seconds later, he was hit in his ribs by a solid kick that sent him flying.

Regaining his aerial composure, Marlucia spun around and flapped his icy wings, balancing his body out. There he hovered, lightly flapping and gazed at Zen who by some unseen forced was hovering as well. The fact that the dark-skinned boy's eyes were slightly orange made it apparent that he was using the geostigma keep himself afloat.

Zen was smiling and Marlucia was scowling his lips pushed upward in disgust. "Zen, I don't know exactly how you came to be but I can see that you are much stronger than Naruto was... I will take pleasure in painfully extracting your Kekkei Genkai." His tone of voice carried a hint of arrogance.

"Just come and try." Zen replied shrugging.

"So be it!" Marlucia raised his arms, and behind him formed a glittering mass of ice. "Let's see you try to dodge this one!" In an instant later, several tendrils of ice struck out with serpentine quality.

Zen merely laughed and expelled a mass of wind with his geostigma; his ostentatious display was followed by him throwing himself at Marlucia at high speed. He swooped down and dodged one tendril; go so fast that he broke it apart with sheer aftershock. He then spun to his left, effectively dodging another tendril, and as he turned to his side, he caught a glimpse of Marlucia's icy blue eyes sliding past his center of vision.

Zen immediately stopped moving as Marlucia grabbed him, only to keep him moving with a chop to the head, sending him flying toward the ground. To Zen it felt like being hit by a solid block of ice, and the blow had disoriented him long enough for him to make contact with the ground and embed his body into a small crater in the bridge. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Marlucia lightly flapping his wings several meters above him.

"Arare!" (Hail) Marlucia wailed, as he begun to flap his wings rapidly, bringing with it a large gale of bone-chilling wind. Marlucia laughed deeply; the thought of Zen, or Naruto, or whoever he was taking on the full force of his attack was making it too hard for him to stop laughing. He had to admit he was very surprised that Zen had that much power, much more than Naruto; however, he still did not cut it close to Marlucia when it came to power.

The rhythmic pace of his wings grew in tempo as he continued to blast cold air onto Zen's body. Then with a burst of chakra, minuscule spheres of ice spawned before his wings that Marlucia did not hesitate to take advantage of as he began to flap and rain an onslaught of tiny ice pellets at Zen's body with manic speed and drop dead accuracy. Like needles did the hail being formed by Marlucia's wings strike and the result was a cloud of dust and fog sprouting up from the point of impact.

Like that Marlucia ceased fire, bringing his wings to a sudden halt. "Hey, Zen your already dead, what a pity." Marlucia said with a hint of slight satire in his voice but all traces of sarcasm disappeared when he saw a bit of movement within the murky cloud of fog and dust. "Ah, still fighting, I see; no matter it ends here!" Marlucia yelled as he let his body drop at an angle and like a bird of prey, he dove down flying like an arrow had been shot from atop a hill, heading directly toward the shroud of dust. (Speaking of birds of prey, has anyone seen Tomo lately?)

Movement became defined and he could clearly see Zen's now standing silhouette in the cloud. As he was about a yard away from the cloud Zen's hand struck out of the fog and palmed Marlucia's face; a few seconds later a metallic clawed hand struck hitting him in the chest and going right through to the other side.

When the dust and fog cleared, Zen's armed hand could be seen protruding from Marlucia's back, the metal slick with blood, dripping. He pulled his hand out, revealing his arm painted red from the elbow up.

"Did you forget that I had two of these gauntlets?" Zen said with a smile.

Marlucia spit up some blood. "Damn you...." He said shakily. Zen's eyes had gone back to the normal blue as he deactivated his geostigma.

"You're done." Marlucia dropped to his knees. Zen now had Marlucia at his mercy; it was actually easier than he thought it would be considering how strong Marlucia was. That thought then concluded Zen's mind: it was not over for Marlucia, in fact it was quite the contrary; the reality was that the battle was just beginning.

Zen's thoughts were confirmed when Marlucia suddenly sprang up and kneed Zen in the chin, carrying his body into the air. The sudden counter caught Zen off guard, so did Marlucia's next attack. The frozen angel grabbed Zen by his collar and brought him closer so that they both were face to face.

"It's not over; I will be the victor of this battle. The only way that this battle can and will end is with your death!" Marlucia's expression was intense, but dry, not a single bead of sweat. He shoved back and immediately charged in.

"If you want to kill me then try!" Zen huffed as he ducked Marlucia's kick. He then hopped over a strike aimed for his legs. He stepped in and bashed his fist into Marlucia's jaw, causing the man's entire body to turn.

"Fuck you!" Marlucia screamed as he used the momentum from Zen's punch to whip himself around and bash Zen's body with his wing sending him flying.

The sharp edges of Marlucia's wing had done a good job in drawing blood from Zen's chest but it was not enough; Marlucia disappeared and reappeared a good distance in front of Zen's path. He raised his leg when Zen was close enough, brought it down.

However, Zen was two steps ahead; in an amazing display of flexibility and reflex Zen arched his body backwards and came in to a perfect handstand, stopping before Marlucia's leg made any contact.

"No, fuck you!" Zen yelled as he spun his body around, ramming his leg into Marlucia's side causing him to stumble back; with one more rapid spin Zen slid onto his feet and charged Marlucia once more." You are wrong, I will win I am the victor here. You beat me last time because I was weak and my resolve was clouded, this time it's different!" Zen let out a horrid laugh as he released onto Marlucia a rapid barrage of slashes and punches, some of which were parried and others hit their mark. Zen was especially glad that Marlucia had great difficulty evading the attacks made by his clawed hand; unfortunately for Marlucia knocking back sharp metal with only skin meant blood and lots of it.

For five minutes the two traded blows, most of which were dealt by Zen and the result was a bloody Marlucia and a bruised Zen.

_'Why-?' _Marlucia thought as he jumped several feet away from Zen, _'Why is this boy so strong, before I could smack him down without so much as breaking a sweat! Now I can't even draw enough blood out of him to fill up a cup!' _Marlucia's apparent frustration was made visible on his face for he had a furious snarl in his teeth, which evidently were drenched in his own blood. He stopped, almost losing his balance and threw out a punch to Zen's face.

Zen mimicked his actions, digging his foot into the ground and throwing his own punch as well. At that moment it seemed as if time itself had slowed down, and he could see Zen's every move clearly, however, having the ability to effectively dodge Zen's advance was clearly impossible for him at the moment. He knew what was about to happen, and he saw Zen's fist inching slowly toward his face.

"It's official, you cannot beat me!"

Moreover, in an instant time sped up again and Zen's fist hit Marlucia square in the face, right before his own fist made contact. He was thrown back by the force of the blow onto the ground; by the feel of it, Marlucia could have sworn that he felt his jaw dislocate which pissed him off even more.

He hit the ground, hard and remained there. He then heard the sound of approaching footsteps and looked up.

"No, no, you shouldn't be able to beat me... t-this is wrong! I won't let it happen, not while I'm still able to move. I am not about to let a little runt like you defeat me!" Zen then stopped, with an amused look on his face. "The Saiki will prevail!" Marlucia then let out an ear-splitting yell along with it a huge explosion of chakra that resulted in a huge white spout of visible chakra forming around him.

Slowly Marlucia stood up, drenched in his own blood and expelled even more chakra into the air; the killing intent was terrible but not enough to openly affect Zen. The boy just continued to stand and stare at Marlucia's wild display of rage and fury. "Fuck Zexin's orders, I will kill you completely! If I am punished for it then so, be it. No consequence it greater then the regret I will feel if I don't kill you here and now!" He yelled once more releasing more chakra in to the atmosphere, the outward motion of the energy had generated and artificial wind that forced Zen to shield his eyes.

He spread his wings and outstretched his hands, placing them together. He opened his hands and in front of his palms a ball of ice and chakra formed, slowly taking shape.

"W-with this next attack, I'll end this battle!" Marlucia said; he then threw himself into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. The powerful ball constantly expanded and condensed, showing exactly how unstable it was. Zen wondered whether or not the attack was like this because of Marlucia's desperation or just because it was normally meant to be like that. He figured that it was the first one.

Marlucia let one arm drop and grabbed hold of the ball with one hand. He held it above his head, still laughing but slowly his laughter died down so that he could speak.

"Ha I'll kill you with my ultimate technique... Harumagedon! (Armageddon)

Such a powerful name for such a powerful technique, it was apparent to Zen that by the way Marlucia held it, the attack was meant for close range. He had to be on his toes and make sure that he did not get himself hit; doing something like that could lead to grave injury or worse. His death.

Now wasn't the time to be careful; he wanted Marlucia dead and he wanted it now, if he could show off then so would he.

Zen then laughed and increased his own insane chakra output to match Marlucia's. He glanced over at Kakashi who seemed to be paralyzed by the intense Ki; however, Haku and Larxene were the real problem. They shifted and turned about, tetchy under the gravity of the two insane chakra signatures.

At this moment that did not matter.

"You really think that I'm going to lose to you...you of all people, that in itself is a concept that I can only register as ludicrous. I'll show you power, but be warned, it will be the last thing you will ever get to see!" With the two dense chakra's mixing with each other, the atmosphere became... cloudy to say the least.

More artificial wind had kicked up and above the sky had blackened, taking on the color of ash from a volcano.

"What's with your power... damn you, Namikaze!" Marlucia spat out with venom.

Zen then felt a tingling sensation in the back of his head, like a flurry of furious bees swarming around in his skull. _'Zen, you're using too much of that insane chakra, I don't know what type of affect it will have on my-... our body.' _From the sound of his voice, he knew that that was Naruto speaking to him through their mental connection.

_'Hey, the insane chakra is my fucking chakra, so deal with it!'_ He then cut Naruto off and brought his attention to Marlucia.

"Hey bastard, just try and stop... I dare you!" He smiled, but the smile soon faded as he felt another weird sensation crawl up his spine yet again. He shook it off. "That attack of yours seems to be pretty strong, how about you see if you can hit me with it-...!" Zen's eyes then cracked wide open as he felt a sudden drain in energy.

"No..., I used too much....," he looked down at his hands and saw that his own skin had begun to lighten up again. He was changing back. "This can't be happening, I need more time, I-" He stopped in mid sentence when his vision faded; his eyes rolled into the back of his head and before Marlucia knew it, Zen was gone, leaving Naruto to regain control.

With his skin back to its original tone and his hair relaxed a bit; Naruto dropped to his knees. He felt empty, like he was without any energy, which was something that he really did not want to be feeling at the moment, at least not with Marlucia staring him down with that badass jutsu in his hand.

"Dammit, he used too much energy; my body isn't ready for that much insane chakra." He said nervously.

Marlucia who only now had noticed that Zen's insane chakra had just disappeared let out booming laughter. "It seems that you ran out of energy Namikaze. I don't know what it is that you did but after today neither your nor Zen will be alive!" With that, he launched himself at Naruto.

_'Shit, I-I lost, and I was so fucking close.' _Time slowed down for Naruto, he could clearly see everything that was happening, and the intense look on Marlucia's face, even the instability of his powerful jutsu. At this point was about to give up and close his eyes, to him it seemed that his death was inevitable. There was no escaping it; he could not defeat Marlucia before at the lake as the regular Naruto, why would he be able to defeat him now. He had no more chakra left and his body was tired.

As his eyelids were about to completely close, something reflected a glare of light into his eyes and he turned to his side. His eyes widened when he saw a giant zanbantou spinning through the air where it then intercepted Marlucia when he was a couple of feet away from him, properly cleaving the man in half.

Blood spewed from his dismembered upper body as he hit the floor and once his face made contact with the ground he let out a painful yell. Luckily, for Naruto his jutsu had dispelled in mid-air after he had been hit.

That left only one thing, who hit him? Naruto glanced to his left and noticed that this sword was in fact the giant zanbantou owned by Momochi Zabuza, but Zabuza couldn't have thrown... he was dead, or was he?

Naruto slowly glanced back to his right and his eyes widened when he did in fact see Zabuza standing there in the distance, panting and huffing with his arm outstretched, as if he had just thrown something. The huge gash in his stomach still remained bloody.

The demon of the mist was alive which was all that mattered. Naruto suddenly felt relieved that someone had finally ended Marlucia's existence.

His head snapped toward the ground when he heard Marlucia yell. "No, no you betrayed me! I gave you power and you betray me...t-this can't be happening I can't accept it, I won't accept it!" The man then dragged what was left of his body toward Naruto slowly inching closer, leaving behind him a trail of blood. "I'll kill you; I'll k-kill you...all..." Marlucia's voice faded and his eyes went blank as his body went limp and dropped to the ground with a dead thump.

"He's dead? Just like that, man that was a rip off." Naruto said to himself teasingly. He looked over at Zabuza who was still panting and sweating, probably from the major wound. There was no doubt that the man had seen the error of his ways and was given another chance, it was a good thing that he decided to use that chance to end the battle for everyone.

Kakashi himself was in shock; he really did not expect Zabuza to be the one to end this. However, what was even more suspicious was the insane grin on Zabuza's face. The demon of the mist's body then pulsed, releasing a bit of harsh chakra.

He then laughed aloud. "I can feel it, the power... the power!" A blue haze appeared around him and on his forehead appeared a glowing five-pedaled sakura.

"No." Kakashi then said with some fear in his voice. Zabuza then brought his vision onto Kakashi.

"Hatake Kakashi, I'm so happy right now, I'm happy because Marlucia is dead. I had planned on killing him earlier but I figured that I would wait it out until you guys wore him down, so I thank you." He then brought his gaze onto Naruto. "But you, you...are the one who I am indeed the most indebted to. If you had not injured that bastard like you had done then I doubt that he would have been caught of guard so easily. Thank you my friend."

"I'm not your friend you piece of shit!" Naruto spat out making Zabuza laugh.

"Hey now, don't get to angry. Let me tell you something I want to have power more than anything else in this world and it is power that I shall get. I was marked by Marlucia." He said pointing to the glowing mark on his forehead. "Because of that I had a connection with Marlucia; that connection is the sole reason that I killed him, to steal his power and take his spot in the Saiki!"

Naruto's eyes widened, he could not believe what he was hearing. One member had been struck down just so that he would make some space for a newer member to fill in his spot. That was truly sick, why Zabuza would even want to be part of the Saiki was unknown to him.

"Remember this Naruto, I am not dead, I have simply moved up into a higher position, with my power I'll come back and kill you all!" Zabuza then beckoned for his sword and when it was in his hand, he dug it into the ground, creating a white explosion of dust; when it cleared, Zabuza was gone and all traces of his chakra had disappeared.

This was simply too much for Naruto; looked down toward the spot where Marlucia had died and his eyes widened when he saw nothing there. Maybe when the Saiki died they just vanished completely. Naruto then lay down on his back; he knew nothing good would come of this day and he was completely right...not a single good thing.

Maybe after a long and much needed rest he could savor the crisp feel of a new day. Naruto then looked to the side and noticed that Haku and Larxene had began to stir, Kakashi had done his job well... so he figured that maybe there was _one _good thing that occurred today.

----

Ten hooded figures stood in a circle that surrounded the final eleventh figure. They stood in the same brightly lit castle-like room they stood in before, when their numbers were greater.

Zexin spoke first as always; he pulled down his hood revealing his long silver hair and red eyes.

"It seems that are numbers are reduced yet again." His deep baritone echoed endlessly throughout the giant white hall. His words drew a mixed reaction within the gathering of clocked figures; some murmured and others just stood there without saying so much as a word. "Marlucia Zerbast has wasted himself and thrown his soul away to the Shinigami; he was disobedient and he has paid for it. By conspiring with an outsider, he has betrayed us; I guess it is true that a traitor will only end up dead. A question will any of you go against my word in the future?"

He got a stern response. "No Zexin-sama, we remain loyal to you at all times!" Zexin smiled at the answer given back. However, his head then flicked to the side and he centered his gaze on the one person who did not respond to his question. The smile he wore had disappeared from view, making his anger at this person apparent.

"Lark... If I heard correctly- or should I say didn't hear, you did not answer my question. Is there a reason for you silence?"

Lark, who still stood with his hood obscuring his face from view, chuckled. "I don't know, maybe I'm just not so loyal to you anymore. One of your subordinate's die and you don't even care, do you realize how valuable Marlucia was, his power was a great asset to our organization. Don't you think that our plans will be set back if our numbers are down?"

Zexin then smiled. "Ah, Lark... you can't hide from me your true emotion. I can see it in your eyes; you are not worried at all about Marlucia's death, there is something else bothering you. Was it something else that I mentioned-..." Then Zexin's eyebrows inched up a bit, he obviously figured out the reason as to why Lark was so angry. "-Ah, now I understand. Could it be because I am speaking about Marlucia the same exact way I spoke about your sister Larxene? Tell me, why are you so concerned about keeping the reputation of your _dead _sister clean? "

Lark froze; he had always cursed Zexin for being so perceptive. On top of that, the man was brilliant; Lark soon began to regret ever speaking out in the first place. True seeing as how Larxene was supposed to be dead, right now she and Marlucia were on the same level: two ex-members who died because they failed a mission. That was the ruse he was trying to keep up, but as of now, he was failing miserably. It hurt him that Zexin spoke of Larxene as if she was just a disposable tool but he knew that he had to keep the man thinking that Larxene was dead for a long a time as he possibly could. He just wished that he could shut Zexin up and let him know that Larxene actually was alive and she was in no way or form like that vile Marlucia Zerbast.

However, it was quite the opposite and he could not, so he bit his tongue and swallowed down the urge to reveal the truth and shut Zexin up.

"B-because she was my sister, it's a simple as that. Unlike you I still hold my family dear to me."

Zexin just laughed loudly, further irritating Lark; right now he really just wanted to kill him. "Oh, do not worry Lark, your sister will still be remembered in all of our hearts, after all it was not like she betrayed anyone, she just simply failed her mission and died because of that."

Lark's eye twitched; that man was lying straight to his face and what was even worse was that he was doing it with a smile. Lark could not even tell by Zexin's tone whether or not he was stating simple fact or just subtly berating Larxene for failing to bring back the Namikaze. Judging by the man's character Lark chose Zexin's intentions to be the latter.

"I appreciate it." Lark said simply. It was the best he could come up with without saying anything offensive, which was something that Lark did not want to see the consequence of.

"Good, now then... "He went back to his original position."Marlucia is gone, and his death will be a minor setback to our plans; however do not be crestfallen, there is a replacement. While he was away Marlucia seemed to have placed his mark on the person who he conspired with, and like you all know whenever a Saiki member dies, out of those that he or she has marked, the best fitted to take his place will be selected to become a new member."

"So does that mean?" One of the cloaked figures said.

"Yes, we have a new member... Zabuza you may come out now." Zexin stepped back and snapped in front of him. A line of what looked like black chakra appeared on the ground and opened up until it was became a dark square in the ground. Slowly Zabuza's head rose out of the dark portal.

In less than five seconds, Zabuza's entire body was out of the portal and it disappeared under his feet. Zabuza then crouched into a low kneel and lifted his head.

"I-I take it that you are the one Marlucia referred to as Zexin-sama?"

"Yes, how perceptive of you, I'm impressed already. It is my greatest hope that you will live up to... no surpass the legacy that Marlucia left behind in the Saiki."

"Heh, well why wouldn't I surpass that man; his legacy won't even be a fraction of mine."

"You have got quite the attitude here haven't you... I like that in a soldier. Go on tell every one your name."

Zabuza then let out a loud chuckle. "Hm, my name is Momochi Zabuza, the eternal guillotine." With that said Zabuza stood up, erecting his full height of six foot three.

Zexin then placed his hand on his soldier. "Momochi-san, exactly how did Marlucia die, tell us all."

Zabuza then laughed once more. "It's simple, I killed him." That comment drew a few gasps from the rest of the members including Lark.

"_You _killed him?" Zexin said, his eyes a little wide, he raised his hand and silenced the others. His eyebrow then went into and upward arch. "And how exactly did you do that?"

"Tch, I cut him in half of course, right from the waste down." The previous murmurs and gasps had returned. "That's right, he gave me power and I betrayed him, my blade went right through him like a knife through butter!" Well, technically Zabuza was telling the truth, after all, he did actually kill Marlucia but it had not happened the exact way that the others might have believed it to occur. He was taking a wild guess here but Zabuza had the most discreet feeling that Marlucia was one of the more powerful members, if he could instill into their minds that he had defeated Marlucia by himself without a problem then maybe he could gain a higher rank and obtain access to some of the secrets of this so called Saiki organization that intrigued him so much. Therefore, in a boisterous way he grabbed the hilt of his blade, gripping it tightly and sent out a grim stare to everyone in the circle. "And if anyone wants to confront on the matter than be my guest."

Zexin's hand tightened around Zabuza's shoulder. "There is nothing to worry about, there will be no punishment for you, you did what is natural and besides Marlucia went against my wishes, so I guess that in a way you punished him for me. Anyway I've got one more question, will you betray me like you betrayed Marlucia?"

Zabuza was surprised that Zexin had caught on to his plans so quickly; this man was someone that Zabuza instantly knew he did not want to cross weapons with. Maybe for now, he would gain his trust and kill him too when he least expected it, but for now....

"No, I wouldn't think of it, you are obviously a more worthy ally than that dead sakura Marlucia." Zexin then smiled.

"Good, good you are a smart one. Come follow me, we will begin the coronation and find out what your true weapon is. You are all dismissed."

Zexin then proceeded to walk away with Zabuza following right behind; the other members went their separate ways leaving out of the various doors and exits, leaving only Zabuza and Zexin standing in the room. Zexin then dipped his finger into the air, part of it disappearing and opened up the same dark square gate that he had opened up once before. "Come Momochi-san let us begin." He said as he walked inside, and Zabuza followed.

"Oh yeah, there's something that I need to tell you as well, about a little blond girl I saw with the Namikaze, she had the same outfit as you guy and...." Zabuza's voice then faded away as he walked inside the portal, which closed behind him.

However, Lark then stepped out of another portal with his hood down, this one was round and on its edges were furious white flames. It closed behind him, not leaving a trace of it ever being there.

He looked down at the ground with wide eyes and a worried expression. "That guy Zabuza,....-" his breathing soon got harder as his mind came to the meaning of what Zabuza had said, "-he, he knows about Larxene!"

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Bah, Buh Bum!!!!!! Bwahahahaha! Oh no poor Lar-chan, poor Haku-chan... Almost frozen to death and they don't even get to see the guy who almost kills them. Well ain't life a bitch?

Man but really sorry about the wait, I hope the chap lived up to the hype I gave it. Oh and by the way, did any of you guys figure out the surprise, if you didn't you are unnaturally unperceptive...like seriously it should be obvious just was the hell I was talking about. But if you can't find it....well if you can't find it you've got insight issues but if you did see it, who cares no cookies for anyone.

Sigh, the wave arc is finally done, how did everyone like the two part finale miniseries I set up? Tell you're like and dislikes on it IN A REVIEW!

No matter how many reviews I get, I still will not stop stressing the fact that I want MORE. Hee hee.

And if you have a problem then attack me...but let me warn you if you find me and attack me, you my get attacked by approximately 9-10 black guys and maybe a Mexican if I feel festive. Hell I will throw in an Asian if I have to, I do love kung fu. No but seriously, you will get your asses handed to you on a silver platter.

And for some reason I starting to feel as if I'm getting slightly off topic... does anyone else think so, 'cause I do...!

Oh yeah almost forgot, the part that makes this author's notes so freaking long.

Time for: duh duh da daaa!

Top five reviewers:

Toastnchips

Weasal

Doom-chan (this person is such a smart-ass)

Panther-strife 

Dragon Man 180

Ok, you all know the deal....go on to their profiles, yada yada....their so fucking badass and blah blabbity blah....black people....? wah wait what I just say....uhhh never mind. Seriously follow my advice and check out their profiles, you know many people do not really do this. I hate it when people are all like dam I'm so bored I need a new story to read an what not and all that crap.....see they wouldn't be bored if they knew that going on other people's profile's and looking at their favorite stories and original stories is actually the best way to find a decent worthwhile fanfic. In addition, it gives the person whose profile it is more hits and out reviews so it works out for everyone.

So hurry up and check these guys out.

Ok now for the Guess list champ.

And the champ is:.......

!xxxXXZarcadeXXxxx!

Sorry weasal my man you have been kick off the guess list, this person is the new champion he pretty much summarized the entire thing in two sentences...and it took me over ten-thousand words.

Go figure. Anyway, take some time out and see what he has to offer. He is badass.

Um well since this thing is real LONG I'll MAKE THIS SHORT. **I WANT REVEIWS**. If you would at least try to make it past 285 or maybe 290 reviews, yeah that is the number I want. So please help me out and contribute to the 'Help a black guy trying to get more reviews' charity. Thank you.

Read and review

Next chapter: Calm after the Storm

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT!


	14. Calm after the Storm

Yeaaah boiiii

Hey hey, chapter fourteen is out and I think I did a rather nice job on it actually. Sorry it took me a while to get this out but hey, what can you do. Some crazy shit happened to me over me Easter break, wait for it, wait.... I went out into the woods!

That's right, I was out in the wilderness, and I don't mean the whole holding hands around the campfire while everyone sings little campfire songs. No I mean, trekking through the wilderness for an entire week without any worldly possessions. Yeaaah.... that gave me some chest hair and a lot of it. It was hard and I was with like five other dudes, man I suffered. Out in the wild with only guys... not cool. But on the bright side, while I was out there I took a couple of tests, both written and practical and I aced them so as of now I am a legally certified first-aider. I have a card and every thing; that's going to be a beauty on my college resume.

Anyway, this chapter will be pretty nice and for all those who have been waiting for some interaction between Naruto and the other girls, well your wait is over. Get ready for a little mushy-mushy in this chapter, there will be a certain degree of seriousness as well buuuutttttt mostly some mushy-mushy crap. And maybe even a little chat between the girls.

Hope you all enjoyed your spring breaks I know that I didn't, and I hope that you enjoy this latest installment of Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai!

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

He receives, They accept, She denies

In a brightly lit room, Zabuza stood atop a high platform that overlooked a wide expanse of desolate wasteland. In front of him, nothing but a large window, however behind him was the massive glittering inside of the Saiki's castle. After he had spoken to Zexin of the blond girl who appeared with the Namikaze he was sent here to this room. This was the room where he was supposed to find his inner weapon, find the weapon in which was held inside his very soul. As of now he hated this, for starters the room was way too bright and shiny for his taste and plus sitting here just meditating was horribly boring.

Thick silence enveloped the room, it had been doing that for the past... what? Hour! Every now and then he would break the thickness of the muted room by letting a sigh escape is mouth. Honestly he just couldn't think straight and concentrate on himself for so long, every time he divulged a bit of his inner self a picture of Haku's smiling face would always flash in his mind; it would come quick and fast like a bolt of powerful lighting. And that bolt of memory was always enough to break Zabuza's still state of mind.

To think that he so easily left her in order to obtain power, this so called power that took an interminable time to attain, he pondered on whether or not it was really worth it. But then an image of Marlucia replaced Haku's face. Of course this power was worth it, if Marlucia possessed that much than who knew what he was capable of?

Concentrating Zabuza settled into a lotus style sit and cleared his throat. A shifting behind him alerted him of the presence behind him.

"Are you still having trouble trying to concentrate?" Zexin's voice said from behind him. Zabuza had almost forgotten that Zexin had been with him the entire time, perhaps his words did hold some truth and this power was really worth it.

"Yes, Zexin-sama, I can't seem to concentrate for a long enough time in order to find myself," Zabuza said in a depressed tone, "Will this really allow me to gain access to my true weapon?"

"Of course it will, do you question the veracity of my words?," Zexin responded asked. Zabuza instantly tensed up, although he could not see it, he knew that Zexin had a scowl on his face.

"No," Zabuza said reluctantly. Zexin's tone of voice held a tone of dominance which Zabuza knew he should comply with let he wanted to end up a pile of mulch. Although he wasn't necessarily zealous about having to listen to Zexin's word either. But to save himself from any future diatribes he simply listened to the man."No not at all, I just need more time to concentrate, please allot me more time."

"Fine, however, do not waste anymore time, gather your thoughts and find your inner self." Zabuza released another sigh as he listened to Zexin's footsteps fade away into nothing.

The image flashed again. For know he would let her do what she wished, however, once he had obtained his weapon he would come back for her.

"Haku-chan, I have not forgotten you," Zabuza said before closing his eyes.

----

Larxene woke up feeling the pounding affect of the monstrous headache that kept assaulting her skull. She noticed that she was inside her room. Judging by her location, the battle was already over and seeing as how she was still alive they had won. How disgraceful it was to fall right, quite literally, into Marlucia's cold hands, not only did she berate her self for that but she also berated herself for not being able to do anything about it. She was at that moment in the past, at that frozen bastards mercy.

"Uh, my head," she whined with a glassy rasp. Her muscles were sore, still recuperating from the effects of Marlucia's jutsu. They were hard and stiff, refusing to move another inch, like a mountain of rocks never moving in the distance. When a breeze rolled in from an open window, it sent a chill down her spine and she noticed that her back was bare. As in she had no clothing on, save for a pair of black pants.

On instinct she crossed her arms across her chest in an attempt to shield herself from the unnaturally bitter cold. To her surprise a hand slid up her back and onto her shoulder, causing her to release a sudden squeak.

"Don't sit up, you still haven't completely defrosted," said Naruto's voice as Larxene was pulled back onto the bed. She let out a little gasp when she felt a bit of pain from hitting the soft mattress, a clear indicator that some of her body still wasn't completely warmed up.

"Ow... you prick don't grab me li-," he voice lowered and she withheld her words when Naruto suddenly placed his hand on her head. She shuddered from the contact, although it was sudden it did feel very warm, unusually warm. "W-what are you doing," she asked shakily. Given that her chest was bare at the moment, Naruto had a full view of her cleavage. That knowledge alone sent a wave of heated blood rushing throughout her face, throwing her into a furious blush.

Although she was not the only one who was bare at the moment, Naruto himself had no shirt on his entire upper body was naked, save for the bandages that wrapped around his arms, going diagonally from his right shoulder and across his chest down to his left hip and then finally wrapping around the entirety of his waist. His well muscled chest drew a good reaction from Larxene, her face lighting up.

"It's a basic fire jutsu used to produce only a minuscule output of thermal energy, so it's only used for simple things like producing body heat." Larxene eyed Naruto as he rested his hand on her forehead, gazing directly at him. She had to admit, like this his face did look okay, and the way the light struck his eyes gave them a majestic quality. She then froze when Naruto looked directly at her.

"D-don't' you dare l-look at my c-chest... keep your eyes on me," she said red-faced. Her brow rose as he just chuckled.

"Yes, Lar-sama, I wouldn't dare as to do something so vile." That was obviously a lie, as Naruto had done worst in the past. Hell, he probably had a camera hidden somewhere in the room... this was prime blackmail material.

"That's a lie," she said, "Anyway, where's Haku-chan?" Naruto lifted his hand, Larxene pouted at the absence of warmth when did, and pointed over to a bed next to her where Haku was laying there covered up to her neck with a brown cloth made of what looked like wool. Her chest slowly rose and fell at a gentle pace.

"I just finished warming her up right before you woke up, she's stable right now, she just needs to take a little nap." He placed his hand back on her head, and much to her pleasure left it there for some minutes. During the time, he told her of the outcome of the battle and _exactly _how Marlucia was killed. She listened attentively, nodding her head every few seconds like a perplexed child.

Afterward Naruto took his hand of her head and said, "Okay I'm going to need to go down a bit further." At first she didn't quite know what that meant but when Naruto explained that he would actually have to place his hands over her torso, Larxene didn't seem so enthusiastic about getting 'warmed up'. However she did give him permission, so long as his hands stayed above her skin and not on it.

"Fine, but if I do touch you, you can't really blame me. I mean, you've got a great body." Larxene blushed at that comment and looked to the side, avoiding Naruto's jovial expression. For some reason getting complemented by Naruto made her feel, funny. Her skin tingled from it, well the skin that she could fully feel anyway.

"S-shut up, I don't need you complementing me on my, f-figure," she said but her obviously ephemeral stubbornness to accept his complement faded away when she turned back to him, "T-thanks though." Naruto just chuckled at her embarrassment.

Naruto brought his hand above her chest and for the first time Larxene noticed that Naruto's hand was glowing a pale orange, she registered it only as the source of the heat that warmed her. She shuddered as a warm sensation came upon her, flooding into her body like water flowing into a glass. After a span of seconds she began to regain complete feeling in her arms and legs and no longer did she have that stiff pins and needles sensation in her appendages.

She let out a sigh of content, however she suddenly gasped as she realized that Naruto was staring at her.

"W-what," she asked. Her cheeks flushed and she once again began to blush.

"Oh nothing, just get some rest," He said as he pulled brown woolen sheets up to her neck. "Oh and you're clothing is over there," he said pointing a thumb at a coat rack by the wall. He then stood to walk away, when Larxene's hand shot up and grabbed his forearm.

"Wait! Uh... um."

"What?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

She could not believe that she was going to say what she was about to say but she didn't want Naruto to leave. She wanted him to stay with her until she was able to fully move about by herself, however she would never let him know that. So for now she just needed to make an excuse to get him to stay.

"Um... I just wanted to say thanks... you know for saving me... and Haku-chan as well!" That was pathetic, how was she going to get him to stay with something like that? He'd probably just say 'sure no problem' and just leave. "A-and since you know, you saved us... and all I just, y-you know wanted to repay... you." Her eyes darted from the floor to Naruto's smirking face. The fact that he was smirking must have meant that he knew that she was up to something.

"And how do you plan on repaying me?," Naruto asked perversely, "After all I did save your life."

"I-I don't really know how, but maybe-..."

"Maybe what," Naruto stated cutting her off.

Now Larxene was getting a bit nervous. "I...uh, I just, thought that I-I should... find s-some way to-..." Through her slurred speech and uncontrollable stammer, Larxene's words came out chopped up, like they had just gone through a blender. She really wasn't expecting, to have such a hard time talking to the boy, in fact when Marlucia had her in his grasp, the image that flashed in her mind right before she thought she had died was Naruto. Not her brother, but Naruto, she couldn't help but be flummoxed over why she saw his face however she had intended to find out. But did it really have to be so hard, why was she stammering like a little girl with a crush? Was it that for the first time her mind was admitting to herself that she had an actual attraction to Naruto, that would explain why she felt so... funny.

Her thoughts about the boy spun around in her head as she continued to sling out outre_' _pieces of sentences that made no apparent sense whatsoever. This continued on for a second until her eyes were forced open by the sudden warm sensation on her lips and she found herself drawn in.

Before she knew it Naruto had bent down and in an instant their lips made a connection; he had kissed her! At first she was taken by surprise; to date this was her first real kiss that she had ever gotten. At first she tried to fight it but she soon submitted and allowed his tongue to enter and explore, her eyelids closed themselves as did his and she concentrated only on the sweet taste of the intimate osculation. The taste of ramen and something else entered her mouth, a moan escaped her, and she suddenly found it hard to pull away.

That might have been because he now cradled her head in between his palm and forearm.

The kiss continued on for some seconds and before she knew Naruto had pulled away, ending the warm emollient, and placed her head back on her pillow. He smiled down at her; while she was short of breath and tomato red in complexion, and chuckled.

"I'll just take that as my reward, deal?"

Dumbfounded, she nodded, her mouth left open from the lasting effects of Naruto's kiss. If she didn't know better she was have told him that she enjoyed it, more than she was willing to admit; but her facial expression was enough to relay the message over to him. "I-I never, asked you to do that..., what are you trying to do you perv?" she asked her voice lowering into nothing more than a susurrus. (that means a whisper or murmur)

"But you liked it, did you not?" Naruto asked. When she did no respond but merely turned to her side, away from him, he let out a laugh."Ha! I can't believe it, you were so... into the moment! Damn, I'm good! Looks like I was right, you really are just a shy girl at heart, that was barely a kiss and you looked like you were going to faint! Yup, that was definitely my reward... the look on your face was so worth it.

Larxene's hidden expression got even redder when she realized that Naruto wasn't talking about the kiss as his reward, rather he took her facial expression as his reward. "Sh-shut... and just get out!," She yelled flinging her pillow at him, backing him up at the to the door.

"OK, OK, I was just messing with you, but for the record, I enjoyed it as well," he then opened the door and slipped out but before the door fully closed he poked his head back in, "you know had me worried back there, I'm glad you're alright." All he got was a sour grumble in return, which made him chuckle before fully closing the door, leaving a thoroughly winded Larxene to lie in her bed.

_'I-I can't believe he just did that! It felt... a little nice while it lasted though,' _she thought to herself. Underneath the covers her legs were in constant panic, moving every few seconds in order to help calm herself down. The wool felt hard and itchy against her skin, brushing ever so gently enough to make her legs irritable.

"H-hey how, did it feel?," said a voice across from her, at first she assumed that Naruto had crept back into the room but noticed that it a females voice asking her the question; in other words Haku. She glanced at the girl.

"Wha- what, w-why?" she asked confused.

"Isn't it obvious, because I want to know how it felt before I feel it myself." That comment cause her eyes to widened.

"You like... Naruto?" Larxene asked.

"Y-yeah, I was going to keep it from you because I figured that you l-liked him as well."

"What, you thought that I liked him? Not a chance."

"Of course, by the way you _didn't _pull away from his kiss, yeah that really convinced me that you can't stand the guy," Haku said teasing Larxene.

"Quiet you, and don't say another word."

"Oh, don't be so pushy, if I were you I'd probably be too shocked to even speak," that comment earned her a giggle from Larxene, "but rest assure it won't happen ever again, because Naruto will be mine." Larxene's eyes widened, she didn't know that Haku could be so... aggressive.

"Whatever, you can have him," Larxene said. She knew that she didn't mean that, not in the least bit, after a kiss like that she was pretty sure that she wanted more, "But, if I ever were to become attracted to that... Namikaze, and I'm not saying that I will, but if I were to then I wouldn't loose to you," Larxene said as she covered her face with her sheet.

Haku just giggled, although she did feel a spear of jealousy lance through her body, she knew that Larxene was in denial and hoped that she would eventually admit to her own feelings. But not too soon, it would get in her way of attaining her prize. With that Haku just turned her back to Larxene and went back to her nap, her mind falling back into the land of dreams and... Naruto.

---

The sounds of crickets swarmed in through the open window of the kitchen. Kakashi sat in a chair at a wooden table, across from him sat Sasuke and Sakura. He was positioned in a low slouch, like that of a sloth as he clung to the table for support. The arm he had injured while fighting Zabuza was now wrapped up in clean and newly applied bandage, held up by a sling; swinging like the body of boa constrictor in a tree every time he moved.

Outside the luminescent tails of fireflies danced passed the window, piercing through the darkness in beautiful displays of pale orange light.

Every few seconds, he would glance down and scratch the garbed appendage for it irritated him to have it strung up like this. And seeing as how his two pupils kept glancing at it, sneaking in nervous glances every now and then, he was even more aware of his present injury.

For the past fifteen minutes he devoted his time to trying to explain to Sasuke and Sakura the outcome of the battle, while keeping certain things about the encounter strictly esoteric of course. Although it was rather hard trying to explain to the two how they beat Zabuza without mentioning anything about Marlucia, but then again Kakashi was a pretty good liar... when he wanted to be, and they would believe anything he said to them either way.

While he spoke they both payed close attention, taking in every bit of information as it were scraps of food and they were dying loners, especially Sasuke. The young Uchiha leaned far off the edge of his seat, absorbing every word that Kakashi uttered; he especially paid attention whenever Naruto's name was mentioned which led Kakashi to think that the reason the boy paid so much attention was so that he could gather new information on Naruto. Honestly, Sasuke wasted too much time paying attention to Naruto, unless he actually trained himself he would never surpass Naruto when it came to skill. Although it must have been a furious blow to his pride when he learned that he had been left in the dust by the boy who was dead last in the class.

The crickets still chirped as Kakashi's tale was coming to an end, on his last word he said, "And so that's pretty much what happened, any more questions?"

Sasuke sprung up, "Actually yeah, about that Hunter-Nin that you brought back, that was the same one who attacked you and stopped you from killing Zabuza back then, right?" Kakashi nodded. "OK, so why are we keeping him here with us?," Sasuke said with narrowed eyes, Sakura who had been following her crush just nodded, also wanting an explanation.

Kakashi just sighed, he knew that he would have to tell them eventually, he just didn't want to. Then a thought showed itself in its mind, and Kakashi concluded that he would not have to be the one to explain things. Of course this thought of his meant that Naruto would have to come up with a reasonable explanation, if he was lucky the blonde would be able to think of something, however if things took a turn for the worst and Naruto could not think of a good excuse then, it would all come back to him.

"Oh, you'll have to ask Naruto that of course," Kakashi said. Sasuke's eyes narrowed even more until the point of becoming little slits.

"Then where is Naruto?"

"Upstairs, tending to Larxene and our hunter-nin friend," Kakashi replied.

"No I'm not, I'm right here,"said Naruto's voice. The Jounin and two Genin flicked their heads to see Naruto standing at the staircase, his entire upper body encase in a mess of bandages. He walked over and leaned against the wall next to them. "Is there a reason why my name is being used?," he asked folding his arms. He noticed Sasuke's needle point glare at the boy, and simply waved to him which only seemed to get the Uchiha to intensify his glare. Sakura on the other hand... well, just looked love-struck... as usual, not even bothering to glance away from her raven-haired pretty boy.

That was when Kakashi turned around in his chair. "Naruto, care to tell these two why we have fully healed our hunter nin friend upstairs?" His face hidden from the two behind, Kakashi gave Naruto an apologetic eye smile, one that looked compatible with a shoulder shrug. His silent glance somehow relayed over to Naruto as an indication that he was saying 'ill make it up to you'.

_'Man, so you want me to explain thing, because you didn't want them to pester you, how unlike a Jounin. Lucky for you I have an actual reason.' _Honestly, Kakashi could be one lazy bastard when he felt like it, Naruto just so happened to get caught up in the middle of it. Now all eyes were on him, lying in wait for his reason for helping an enemy.

As Naruto prepared to open his mouth, he was cut off by Sasuke. "This better be a good reason, teme."

"Oh trust me, this reason is good enough, dobe," Naruto replied smoothly much to Sasuke's displeasure. This drew Kakashi in closer, how Naruto could come up with an excuse so quickly was beyond him, however, he was eager to hear what strange or unbelievable excuse the blonde had to offer. "The only reason why I healed her was because-"

"Her? The hunter nin is a girl?," Sakura said, actually taking her eyes away from Sasuke. It seems as if that statement alone was enough to break her from her reverie. Sasuke himself also showed a sign of blatant disbelief with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes Sakura she's a girl, I know it's such a hard concept to grasp," Naruto said lacing his voice with some sarcasm, he was surprised at how Sakura did not pick it, or at least that's what he surmised out of her only nodding in accordance to his words. "Anyway, like I was saying the only reason that we have healed her and kept her with us is because she helped us defeat Zabuza."

"Well I could have told you that," Sasuke said while leaning on the wooden table, "Kakashi already told us of how she aided you during the battle." Sasuke stopped when Naruto raised his hand.

"Let me finish" he stated. "Not only did she help us but, she will also be accompanying us back to Konoha where she will be established as an official Nin of the the village." After Naruto's ridiculously bold claim silence ensued, between the the four nobody spoke. For a moment there was a brief pause and a seaside breeze flew in pushing Naruto's unruly hair off to the side. At first Naruto really hadn't thought of the matter as such a big deal, however, after seeing the reactions of his three comrades, he began to have second guesses on just how serious of an issue he was bringing up.

"Naruto, what?" Kakashi's voice broke the silence like a rock through a window, he could tell by the upward angle of the Jounin's eye that he was serious now. He could not believe what Naruto had just said, he knew that letting Naruto explain things was taking a risk. However, it seemed that Naruto's excuse was indeed not spurious and his words were true; he truly intended to bring Haku back with him.

"Yeah, that's right, she's coming with us back to Konoha, I said it."

"You do realize that because of her association with Zabuza she is marked as a nuke-nin in the bingo book, and that if you were to bring her back--which by the way is dangerous for all of us--she would be hunted down and confined to prison the instant word got out that she was in Konoha. Oh, and I hope you don't plan to present her to the Hokage, that's giving her a one-way ticket straight to jail."

"Do not fret Kakashi" Naruto said easily, "There will be no need for any of that, for she will be protected, they both will."

"By who, who could possibly protect-..." then Kakashi paused, registering exactly what Naruto had just said, his chin fell and his gaze met the floor only to rise back up again and meet Naruto's unwavering eyes,"-you just said they both will, who are _they_?" Kakashi asked suddenly.

"When I say they I mean that I intend to bring back both Haku and Larxene." This caused Kakashi's eye to widen. Sasuke glanced and the back of his sensei's head and then back to Naruto, he knew of Larxene but Haku... the only thing he could conclude by that was that Haku was the name of Zabuza's subordinate and judging by the look on Sakura's face, it seemed as if she had made the connection as well.

The sudden screech of wood against wood caused Sakura to wince as Kakashi suddenly stood from his chair, there he barked, "Naruto, what are you thinking, we can't take her with us, she's just as dangerous as Haku is. I understand that up until now we have considered them as comrades but if we enter Konoha with those two we cannot consider them as such any longer. Seeing as how they both are not accepted kunoichi of any village--and they have no business with Konoha--they will be treated as intruders the instant they set foot through the main gate."

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke all shared a confused expression as a chuckle escaped Naruto's lips. "Kakashi, a fickle one you are indeed, tell me do _you_ consider them to be the enemy?" Kakashi stood straight.

"That is not the point, Naruto, The Law of Hi no Kuni clearly states that if not brought into any hidden village as a prisoner, a ninja labeled as "missing" should not be allowed to enter said village. If said Nin were to enter the village with the aid of a person of persons of that specific village then the person shall be captured and taken into confinement along with their accomplice." Kakashi spoke with a still and plain tone, as if he was some computer reciting back the law with robotic precision. "Larxene does not have a village and Haku is a nuke Nin, therefore they won't be allowed to enter Konoha as easily as you would presume and if you somehow get them both inside, eventually you will be found out and taken into custody along with them, so unless you want to go to jail I suggest that you refrain from taking them inside our village, this for not only for their sake but for yours as well."

This time Naruto scoffed and walked over toward an open window, leaning out for a span of some seconds until he turned around and look Kakashi dead in the eye. Both Sakura and Sasuke had fallen back in the discussion, not even daring to utter a word. They did not understand the complications of the Law of the land and judging by Naruto's silence, neither did he, it would be better for him to just back away and comply with Kakashi. However this was Naruto they were talking about, he was persistence incarnate, the very essence of the word so they would not be surprised if Naruto had come up with some counterclaim to battle Kakashi's argument.

"Kakashi, don't take me for a fool, I am well aware of what the law of Hi no Kuni states, I am neither ignorant nor unwitting."

"Then you understand why you cannot take them with you, it'd be better for you to have them wait here and consult with the Hokage until you come on an agreement and then when you have solved the matter come back-- with the permission of the Sandaime of course--and bring them to Konoha with you." Kakashi glared at his student; coming up with such an unreasonable request, he began to wonder what even drove him to think of such a plan.

"Kakashi, you and I both know that they cannot stay here, the dangers that come with being a missing nin and unknown nin outside of a hidden village are far too great and on top of that you also are aware of the more darker forces that are at work here as well." That comment caused Sasuke to eye Naruto suspiciously.

_'Darker forces, what is he talking about?' _

"Yes."Kakashi replied

"Then the only thing I can do is take them with me." Naruto said coolly. "And seeing as how you have bought up the law, let me counter what you have stated, the law does say that I am not allowed to bring them with me unless as prisoners, but you have overlooked something else that the Law states. Kakashi, have you not forgotten who it is that I am?" Naruto said letting a laugh escape him, "The law of Hi no Kuni also states that anyone resident to any village is not allowed to harm a person who is part of a clan to that same village as well." He paused for a moment, bringing back the previous silence then said, "Are you making the connection Kakashi? I can protect them."

_'Who the hell are the Namikaze?' _

"What are you getting at, Naruto? How can you possibly protect them?"

"Simple, by inducting them into a clan that belongs to Konoha. Remember Kakashi-sensei my name is_ Namikaze_ Naruto, It is not so much as me who will protect them as it is the Namikaze name that will be their aegis. It was my plan all along to bring them in as subordinates to the Namikaze clan and seeing as how I am the last remaining Namikaze, that makes me clan head, by default if I must specify how. Therefore as head of the clan I am allowed to make anyone whom I see fit to become one, a part of the Namikaze clan, whether or not it be by blood or by something as menial as a clan subordinate."

Kakashi's eye widened, his student had this as his plan all along. Everything was as he had just said, if that was so then Larxene and Haku could be allowed to enter Konohagakure no Sato without a problem. In truth Naruto had in fact used the law to protect them from... the law, a Loophole in other words. Although a bit underhanded, Kakashi felt a strong sense of pride for his pupil's cunning, who knew that Naruto could be so clever?

Naruto felt his shoulders relax as he heard a sigh from behind Kakashi's mask. It seems as if his sensei had finally seen the veracity of his words and complied. Naruto, suddenly became giddy, bouncing on his toes in wait for his sensei to admit

"Alright Naruto, you win... if what you just said was true then yeah, they can come." The corners of Kakashi's mask folded and he smiled, watching Naruto pump his fist up. "But you know Naruto, if you weren't a Namikaze you wouldn't be able to do this."

The Naruto chuckled, "Kakashi-sensei, if I were not a Namikaze then none of this would have even happened and there would be no need for me to do this." He then turned around to lean outside the window. Kakashi had brought up a good point; if reality had chosen a different path for him and he was not Namikaze, but plain old Uzumaki Naruto, would he be doing what he was now? Surely the answer was no, if not for his heritage, none of the things that had just transpired would ever come to past, he wouldn't have met Larxene, nor would he have met Haku, everything would be different. That Naruto knew was as clear as the most transparent crystal ever to be held by a man, however, he was glad... he liked his life just the way it is.

Rearing his head back like a startled horse Naruto asked Kakashi, "So we leave in the morning... correct?" When Kakashi nodded he simply turned back toward the outside, admiring the random shimmers that were firefly tails gamboling in the dark.

"Tomorrow at five 'o clock, before we leave, I want all of us to meet in the sitting room, though." Kakashi's voice pulled Naruto back away from the lights and he turned his head yet again.

"OK, I'll make sure I'm there."

"No Naruto... I want _all _of us to meet, and that includes our two new clan subordinates," Kakashi said.

"Fine, we'll all be there," Naruto said, turning back with a smile on his face.

However the blonde nor Kakashi saw the way Sasuke eyed the back of Naruto's head.

_'Namikaze, I know I've heard the name. Naruto I knew you were hiding something and I intend to find out the instant we get back to Konoha.'_ Sasuke's gaze did not waver, he watched Naruto for the entire time that he stood at the window and all the way up until he left up into his room, to retire for the night.

As his back collided with the soft mattress underneath him, Naruto released a content sigh, surrounding his head with the soft encasement of his pillow. The pale moonlight beamed down on his head, and Naruto stared into the ceiling, allowing the milky light to flow over his head.

If Larxene and Haku were to be admitted into Konoha by the means at which he set then his status as a Namikaze would have to be exposed to the public, if not, then it would be kept behind closed doors, only allowed to be known by the most trustworthy of ears. It was a risky method for getting them in the village, but for now it was the only thing that he had. The worst-case scenario would be that his heritage would be given out to the public and the end result would be not only having more glares pointed at him, but Larxene and Haku would also be subject to the treatment of the villagers.

"What have I gotten us into?" he said before sighing; his eyes failed to keep themselves open, and he muttered before fatigue took over him and carried him off in the land of dreams.

----

In the morning the mist rolled in, thick and gray, blocking the horizon from view. The sounds of waves gently caressing the sand in a steady rhythmic pattern filled the air; one violent crash caused Naruto's ear to twitch, effectively serving as his alarm clock for the day. How odd was it that he just so happened to have a room near the edge of the water?

Slowly he rose, his muscles stiff and hard like unbreakable wood. His feet touched the ground quietly as he got up and left the room, his footsteps barely heard as he glided over to the room Larxene and Haku slept in. He glanced at the door then quickly went to the bathroom in order to complete his morning rituals, and ate a quick cup of instant ramen and came back.

Seeing as how they were leaving so early in the morning, he would have to make sure that they were both ready to depart. Previously, after the battle Naruto had taken them both under his hand and spent hours sitting over them both, carefully returning their bodies' to their original states. And considering the level of the jutsu he used to warm them up, he was surprised that he was able to heal them both in only a span of a couple hours .

The door cracked open, every so quietly and Naruto poked his head inside the girls' room. There he saw on one bed the crudely contorted and disfigured lump that was Larxene hidden underneath a mass of sheets, a few feet past her on the other bed was Haku laying with only her head sticking out. The sheets clung tightly to her body, outlining her growing curves and her hair, flung fully out and thrown out behind her head and onto the bad in wild diverging strands

Tip-toeing in, Naruto first walked up to Larxene's bed, where he then slipped his finger underneath the covers and slid them down to they were just past the girls neck. There he paused for a moment, gazing at her sleeping visage. She looked innocent, unaware, and in his mind a tad bit cute... too bad he would have to break that blissful little state of hers.

He then made his way into the middle of the room and extended his arms out toward both girls, which he then used to give them both a very violent shaking.

"Wake up!" He shouted, causing the both of them to jump out of their covers while sharing the same shocked expression.

It seems that, as if on impulse, Larxene had clung to her covers when she jerked up, however Haku had not, leaving the brown-haired girl with rosy cheeks before she finally tucked her covers underneath her chin.

"What, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" Larxene asked, clearly ticked off.

"Hurry up, both of you, me and my team will be leaving pretty soon... change, wash up, you know but while you're changing I have something to tell you both. And don't worry I'll be turned around while you guys change, I won't peek." He turned around, placing his back to them both out of respect, it most likely would not go well with them if he were to watch them change.

"Good, you better turn your back, pervert..." Larxene muttered causing Naruto to smile, he had expected something like that from Larxene. However what he didn't expect was what came out of Haku's mouth.

Gripping her covers tightly, Haku swallowed hard, Larxene was already farther ahead with Naruto then she was and if she wanted any attention from the boy then she would have to do something drastic. "Uh, um... I don't really mind you watching... me while I change... you know seeing as how... you've already seen, me... exposed before." Haku instantly dropped her gaze to the floor, her cheeks burning like hot coals lying underneath a blacksmith's trough. Larxene gave her a surprised slack-jawed glance as Naruto merely raised an eyebrow in fascination. She knew exactly what Haku was trying to do, however, Naruto seemed to be a bit too interested, she surmised it solely on how he switched body positions when Haku spoke. His zealousness angered her and she cast a hard glare at Haku, who had just begun to stand and fetch her clothing.

"OK, why not, if you're comfortable and I-..." Naruto then froze when he felt the vicious spike in Larxene's KI, most of which was aimed at him, "-Uh, as a matter of fact, never mind I'll just tell you both standing here the way I am now."

"Good" Larxene said before getting up to change, glaring once more at Haku who scowled, visibly showing her displeasure.

"Alright so as I was saying, there was something that I wished to speak with you about, but first before that I want to ask you both this question, the same question that I asked you both before." He paused, taking the time to stretch his bandaged torso. "On our way back to the Hidden Leaf village, will you two be accompanying me?" The question hung in the air for a quick second until Haku chirped, "Yes!" The girl then realized how loud she had actually responded to the question and quickly retreated back to her task of dressing herself, worried that she had come off as a bit overzealous. Although her alacrity had been made apparent through her outburst, she did not want Naruto to think that she was as eager to join him as her voice had made apparent, be as it may, she was_ that _eager though.

"Good, we've got one, how about the other?" Naruto said, feeling ridiculously relaxed after hearing that Haku wanted to come with him. At first he wondered what they would say, but after what occurred yesterday, he was pretty sure that they would accept. His eyes then darted to his left, the side he assumed Larxene was on, "And what of you, Larxene, have I proved myself to you enough to make you finally agree to come back with me?"

At first there was a long pause and Naruto heard nothing. Haku glanced at the blond girl, although she did not want her to attain Naruto first, their recent bond caused her to show some displeasure in Larxene's diffidence. She wouldn't be able to go on easily knowing that she had let Larxene make such a bad decision when she could have stopped it; and although Haku was sure that Larxene wanted to say yes more than anything at the moment, she too sure that her pride would allow her to say so.

However, that would not be a problem, pride or not, Larxene was coming back to Konoha. In a teasing manner, Haku stuck her fingers up preforming several anbu signals and directing them at Larxene.

It translated out as:'Say yes'. At the subtle hand motions, Larxene raised an eyebrow and she responded.

'Give me a reason to'

'love'

A brief pause.

'No'

'Fine, then he's all mine for taking, bye', this actually caused Larxene to visibly scowl and the blond showed her protest by glaring at her.

"Are you going to answer?" Naruto's voice cut through the silence that they had created like a knife through butter.

"Yes, I-I'll come with you... only because I can't stay here, it would put Tsunami-san and her family into too much danger if the Saiki were to find me here."

Naruto only smiled at that, they all knew that was not the real reason why she accepted, however, Naruto just decided to leave the matter untouched... or perhaps he could bring it up later, after they were in Konoha of course. "OK, I'm glad you finally made up your mind Lar-chan, it would suck if you didn't come back with us. Anyway, we will be leaving soon... so hurry up and get changed and meet everyone downstairs in the sitting room." There a brief ruffle of clothing and the sound of a zipper sliding could be heard, like bizarre insect calling its kin. Naruto turned to see both Haku and Larxene fully dressed.

"Good, now hurry and come down," Naruto then left the room, closing the door just as quietly as he had opened it.

Instantly Larxene turned to Haku.

"What the hell was that, what did you say my reason was for agreeing to go?"

"Simple, I said it was love... I can clearly see through it, you secretly love him." Larxene gasped in outrage, folding her arms and turning her head to the side. Her cheeks gained bright pink tinge to them.

"I-I do not love that Namikaze...," then her voice crawled down the hill of volume, becoming nothing more than a low mummur, "what about you, do you love him?" Her eyes darted back and forth from Haku's face to a nearby wall.

"Yes," Haku stated simply her pithy response shocking Larxene.

"What?"

"Well, OK love is a bit too strong a word to use, however, I really do like him, and," Haku stuck out her hand extending a finger at Larxene, so do you! So stop denying it and just accept your feelings, OK?"

"What feelings, I have no feelings for that Namikaze." Now Haku was perturbed, how stubborn could one person be? She figured that Larxene must have had a mountain of pride, for she just would not admit it, however, now Haku was going to have to resort to drastic measures. She would have to force her to admit it.

"Oh really; then you must really not like him. I don't see how you could not, though. I made the decision in my mind recently, that I like him and I wanted to figure out more about him. He's such a mystery, like a giant puzzle that I want to solve. And not just that, I want to solve everything, I want to know what makes him tick, why he moves with such an air of grace and dominance, why he can be kind yet ruthless a the same time, I want to know all of it. I want to know what he thinks about, what he dreams about, what his drive is... His charm, his vigor, his confidence, it attracts me... I want to see more of it and I'm not afraid to say it. Maybe I do love him, maybe this is just a petty crush, I don't know but all I know is that I want to be near him and if you won't admit that you also want to know all of these things then you're a liar. Just admit it"

Throughout her entire speech, Haku's expression was intrepid, she showed no signs of doubt. Her unwavering deep brown eyes bore right into Larxene, and it made the blonde feel uneasy. Her eyes, two little brown drills, digging in her exploring her, picking at her... she couldn't take it. Why did Haku have to go and give a little speech like that, in all that she said, Larxene found the girls words somewhat familiar, as if those were her words and she just said it for her.

Haku had seen through her facade. Larxene dipped her head down, blushing, but before looking at the ground, she realized that Haku herself was blushing a shade of red and her legs were shaking. Apparently this was just as hard for Haku to say as it was for her to admit, however she still said it. Haku was basically opening up and spilling herself out to Larxene, something Larxene wished that she could do. Unfortunately she could not, she just could not admit it to herself or anyone else.

How could she have fallen for the boy that defeated her, twice, and completely changed her life? She might not even see her brother again because of what happened between them, she just could not let it go and let herself be true to what she truly felt. In a shaky voice Larxene said, "I don't like him."

This caused Haku to frown. "Don't lie to me," she said her voice shaky

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes you are!"

"I'm not!"

"OK," Haku's voice regained its usual calm tone,"fine then if you won't admit it I'll go on without him, I'll just tell him that I do like him. You won't have a problem wi-," She was suddenly cut off when Larxene raised her head, her mouth hung agape.

"No...d-don't!" Larxene said.

"And why not, you don't like him, tell me why I shouldn't, because I have every reason to."

Larxene paused for a moment, her eyes wide. She could see the glimmer of a tear not yet fallen on the rim of her eye, Haku was about to cry and if this kept up so would she. The sight made Larxene say nothing, she only stood silent.

"Fine if you don't have a reason then I'm still going to tell him."

Larxene couldn't take it anymore, the jig was up. A strong sensation tugged the back of her head, getting stronger and building up pressure. What could she do, if she denied, then Haku would confess to Naruto, however in order to stop that she would have to admit that she felt something for him, which was something that she wasn't so sure she could easily do. Two options, both with bad consequences... however, she knew that admitting to Haku's claims would be the one more tolerable. If Haku knew that she liked Naruto then she would keep it a secret from Naruto... right? There was only one way to find out. So she held her hand out, as if to stop Haku from moving.

"No, please... I admit it, I-I like...Naruto. You're right, and I'm wrong for denying it. Everything that you said was true for me too, I want to know his in and outs, his ups and downs, his likes and dislikes. I want to know them all. B-But whenever he's around I feel... weird, there was a hot fuzzy feeling in my stomach and I couldn't admit to what it was until now. But... I can now, I like him... it might even be more, I still have to figure it out," her voice than gained a particular edge, "but in that time while I am sorting out my true feelings... I won't loose to you, we're rivals now and I won't back down!" The blush on her face was like the surface of the sun, hot and flaring giving her cheeks a rosy color.

Haku smiled, "See now was that so hard?"

"Yes, yes it was," Larxene responded in a defeated tone, her eyes looking a little watery. She was taken by surprise when Haku giggled and walked past her to the door.

"Now come one, let's get downstairs and join the others," she said in a happy tone.

"Alright, but... do me a favor? Don't tell Naruto that I said any of this stuff, knowing him he'd hold it over me forever."

"Sure thing." Haku replied, causing Larxene to smile to which she returned it with another smile of her own.

The knob clicked and Haku opened the door then all smiles faded in an instant. And Naruto was standing there in the doorway. "N-naruto... you were?" When he nodded both girls almost fainted, both their expressions were heated and their faces ruby red. "So you heard?"

"Yeah, I came to tell you guys to hurry it up and then I ended up hearing your conversation." There Naruto was standing at the door, with his arms folded and a smile on his face in all his glory. He had just heard their entire conversation, and now he would respond. "Is that how you both truly feel?" Haku nodded slowly, avoiding his gaze and when he looked at Larxene she too looked away but said,"y-yeah." She felt her heart speed up to a manic pace, Naruto heard everything, all of it and now he wouldn't allow her to forget it.

He motioned for her to come over, as well as Haku, now they were all standing in the hallway. Here it comes, the part Larxene was worried about, the part where he laughed and teased them both. However what he did was the complete opposite of what she thought would happen.

Like twin snakes, Naruto's arms wrapped around each of their curvy waists and pulled them in both closer to him, earning him two audible squeaks from the two girls. "If that's how you both felt you should have told me earlier." He said, smiling then turning to Larxene. They began to walk toward down the hall. "You should not have hidden the truth for so long, you could have just told me you know, I wouldn't have laughed...," she then looked at him raised an eyebrow," you're right, I would have, but only a little."

"W-well now that you know, what are you going to do?" She asked, trying to keep her eyes from meeting his. Now they stopped walking.

"This," Larxene felt her chin get pulled by Naruto's fingers as he guided her face up into another kiss. It surprised her, but it felt good, that warm feeling came back into her and replaced all traces of insecurity that previously filled her. It was only until after four seconds did Naruto hear someone clear their throat and he broke the lip-lock, leaving a thoroughly winded Larxene to think and looked over to Haku who was glancing from his face to the floor and back.

"W-what... about...me?"

"Not a problem." Naruto chuckled a bit as he gently palmed the back of Haku's head and brought her in for a kiss as well.

Amazing, by Haku's standards Naruto was an astoundingly good kisser. The osculation lasted for ten seconds, and in the ten seconds almost nothing else mattered. Exploring like a curious animal Naruto's tongue went to work and Haku allowed it entry, she squeaked from the sudden contact, his lips surprisingly soft as where hers on his. It tasted well... unique, like ramen with a hint of something else... was that toothpaste...weird, but fantastic nonetheless. To Haku's displeasure Naruto pulled away, forcing her to lean in even more in order to keep his lips on hers for as long a time possible before they parted.

Once he let go, Haku let herself a shudder, along with a slight giggle. She didn't dare to look back at Naruto, for she did not want him to see how overwhelmed she was by the kiss. She remembered how Larxene was yesterday when he kissed her, and how breathless she was when it happened... really could you blame her for not being able to breath after _that_?

It did bother Haku however that this was the first kiss that Naruto had given her and Larxene had gotten two, at least hers was much longer than the one Naruto had given her.

"Well, I can see that you both liked it, I am as awesome as usual. I think it's time we move on down to the sitting room, everyone is waiting." Naruto spoke in a tone that made it seem as if he did not realize fully what he had just done, he had gone from seductive to nonchalant in a matter of seconds. It was confusing, and now it caused both Haku and Larxene to contemplate on whether or not he really meant something by those two kisses.

Their thoughts carried to two girls as they resumed their walked downstairs, Naruto's arms wrapped around their shoulders this time, both with slight smiles on faces.

Naruto however seemed oblivious to it all, as if he didn't realize a thing, and just kept whistling a sing-song tune down the hall.

----(Downstairs)

Kakashi coddled his injured arm as he sat on one of the couches in the sitting room. He glanced at his two students, Sakura and Sasuke, who were just about finished preparing to leave.

"Are you two, ready?" he asked sternly.

"Yeah, I'm good," Sasuke muttered before slipping his pack onto his back. By the tone of his voice Kakashi could tell that the boy was still a bit groggy from getting up so early. Not only him but Sakura as well; instead of responding the girl only nodded and groaned when he asked if she was prepared.

His fingers tapped the surface of his bandaged arm rapidly moving at a steady pace.

"Hey... Kakashi-sensei...where's.... Naruto?" Sakura asked releasing a yawn. At the moment Sakura asked the question Naruto came walking down the the stairs, his arms wrapped around... both girls?

"Ah...glad that you could... join us, Naruto," Kakashi said, sweat-dropping, "Although, you could have been a bit faster about it." Kakashi cast a quick eye smile at Haku and Larxene who both looked away and blushed, apparently they caught on to what he was insinuating.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said releasing his grip on the two girls beside him and walking over to Kakashi, "so what did you want to speak about before we all left?" Haku stood where she was, however, Larxene took a spot leaning on the wall, ignoring the stares she got from Sakura and the glare from Sasuke.

"Well," Kakashi stood up, his full height towering over Naruto, "I want only wanted to bring you all here in order speak with you about what occurred during our time here." He motioned for Sakura and Sasuke to come closer, and once they did he said, "From here on in it only gets more bizarre, what you saw here was only a taste of what's out there in the ninja world. It gets harder, it gets more challenging, the shinobi world is not a world that you should take for granted, and so I bring you all here together to ask something of you," he paused in order to sweep his eye across his students faces, "That you take the job of being a shinobi seriously. When we get back to Konoha, we will begin some special training, I shall not treat you as children anymore, but as adults, for that is what the village legally see you as. So when we get back, no more games...understood?"

When all three of them nodded Kakashi turned his gaze to the two girls at the rear of the room. "And if you two feel like it, once we get you established as certified Kunoichi back in Konoha, you are welcomed to join us... or if you like, I will allow Naruto to branch off from our training sessions in order to train with you two... personally.

When they too nodded Kakashi's serious expression faded away into something a bit more jovial. "Well, then that's it, we're off!" He said.

"Wait what about Tsunami-san and Tazuna, aren't we at least going to say goodbye to them before we go?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to the side.

"No, it's not normal for a ninja to even stay at a civilian's household for shelter, let alone say goodbye, as shinobi we come and go as the wind. Our gratitude, only shown through the results of our work."

Sakura, then tilted her head, cupping her chin. He did have a point, she had never heard of ninja staying at someones house during a mission, however, it did bother her that she would not even get to say goodbye and thank Tsunami for her hospitality, a cold exit but maybe it was necessary to keep the mindset of a ninja set firm in your head. "I guess you're right, but it still feels wrong."

"Sometimes that's what it comes to, well then let's go," Kakashi said as he they all filed out of the main door of the seaside house, leaving the Tazuna household to be left alone in peace."

As they walked along the harbor Haku froze for a quick second, releasing a gasp. When Naruto turned as asked what the problem was she replied with wide eyes, "Oh gosh, I almost forgot... Tomo, she's not here."

"Who's Tomo exactly?" Sakura asked.

"She's my pet falcon."

"Falcon....?" '_Boy Naruto sure is attracted to the weird ones.' _

Now that he thought about it, when he saw her in the forest, Haku had a bird on her shoulder and if his memory served, its name.... her name was Tomo. "Oh, the bird... I completely forgot about it, oh well; we can't stop to look for it now," Naruto said shrugging before turning around, causing Haku to go into a worried little chibi form of herself.

"Hey, that's not funny!" she said waving her little chibi arms back and forth. Naruto simply chuckled.

"I'm playing, I'm playing, why not try and call it-"

"Her!"

"-Oh sorry call _her_, jeez you don't have to yell." Naruto replied.

"I'll call her but I don't see what that would do, she's probably miles away by now," Haku now reverted back to her normal size, no longer holding the appearance of a chibi character. Pursing her lips together while making a small hole in the middle, Haku whistled making a ridiculously loud screech that caused everyone to hold their ears in pain. To them it felt as if the world around them was shaking.

"My Kami, how is she doing that?" Kakashi said, grasping his head with his one free hand, unfortunately for Kakashi he could not seal both of his ears.

"You know, I really don't know...," Naruto said, while digging his fingers into the pits of his ears.

"Dammit, how can one person make such a sound?!" Larxene stated, yelling and trying to drown out the sounds of Haku's screech.

"Oh great idea Naruto, 'just call her', what were you thinking?" That was Sasuke.

"My.....ears... are going to...explode!" Sakura indeed.

After a span of ten seconds Haku ended her ear-piercing whistle, and looked down. Everyone but her was one the ground, either rolling or not moving."Hm? What's up with you guys?" she asked innocently, but her attention was diverted away from everyone else when she heard a muffled screeching in the distance. She faced the direction of the sound and saw the silhouette of a falcon, gliding high above.

"Tomo!" Haku said, feeling a sense of giddiness

"S-See, I told... it would work," Naruto said giving her a shaky thumbs up and asking her to never do that again in his presence. Once she agreed she held out her arm high over her head, bending her forearm at a ninety degree angle. Seconds later Tomo let out another screech, and swooped down at Haku, perching herself on her arm, her sharp talons doing nothing to Haku's padded arm. Haku giggled, giving Tomo a scratch underneath her hooked beak, the bird then let out a lucid squeak at her master's compassion.

"That... is one, loyal bird...," Kakashi said as he got up along with everyone else, shaking it off they all began walking again; Haku walked at the very rear of the group, coddling and petting Tomo, her and the bird's happy sounds filling the air."

Going off of the harbor and through the town and they walked for about twenty minutes before they came they came to the main gate. Along the way through town, Naruto did not that he did not see any of the townspeople at all, it was as if everyone in the little port town just got up and abandoned their homes, even though they were just inside their homes sleeping for it was around five o' clock in the morning. It was like a deserted ghost town, where all who once lived in it had passed away and now were living underneath it. The thought of the towns people sprouting out of the ground like plants, all zombies and ready to feast of their flesh, it was enough to make Naruto shudder. Fortunately the misty streets remained empty.

"Ok stop, Kakashi, we just walked though the middle of the town and I have yet to see a single person." Naruto said, causing everyone to stare at him.

"Well did you take into consideration that it is around five in the morning?" Kakashi replied.

"Yes, yes I know but this is a port town, even if it is five in the morning, there should still be at least someone around, like a merchant or trader...or something."

"Don't think to much of it Naruto, it's probably nothing."

"Fine, whatever but it still seems weird to me." Naruto said

"Oh... uh, hey I think I know why we didn't see anyone," Sakura said extending a finger out in front of them.

"What are you talking abou-," Naruto, along with everyone else, froze. In the distance Naruto could see, through the mist, the myriad of silhouettes that were the townspeople. In the distance they appeared as a mass of shadows but once they were close enough Naruto could begin to see the faces of many people all of them smiling, Naruto could see that standing in front of the entire gathering of people was Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari.

The old master bridge builder was waving at them. Naruto heard a sound, like a low roar, but when he and the others were closer he realized that this low roar was in fact the villagers' applause. They were all clapping for them!

"Ah, it appears as if you were right, Naruto, something was going on within the villagers. It seems that we will be saying goodbye... and by the looks of it, we'll be saying goodbye to everyone," Kakashi said giving his student one of his famous eye smiles.

Walking up to Tazuna Kakashi said, "What's this Tazuna-san?"

The old man chuckled, "Just a little way to show our appreciation, we thought that since you helped us rid the town of Gato then we should at least let you return home in comfort. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Let me show you." Tazuna motioned for the crowd of people to make a clear path for the group of shinobi, and like a parting sea, they did. At the end of the makeshift walkway Kakashi could see a large decoratively carved, wagon made of mahogany waiting for them with two brown stallions tied to the front by a thick rope.

Kakashi walked through, the crowd happily accepting the many back slaps and sheers for him, as did Haku and Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto and Larxene were still behind.

"Thank you Tsunami-san for taking me in and showing me your hospitality, I know that I've only been around for a short time... but I'll never forget you." She dipped her head, giving the black-haired woman a curt bow to which she responded with a warm hug. In her ear Tsunami whispered, "Go get him," causing Larxene to gasp and glance back at Naruto with a blush on her face. Reluctant to let go of the embrace Larxene slowly pulled away said thank you and joined the others. Now Naruto was the only one who was still at the front of the crowd.

He towered over Inari's form, looking down on the boy with cold eyes. But suddenly his gaze changed, making the transition to a more warmer expression. What Naruto did next was not what Inari had expected.

Naruto's hand made its way onto Inari's head as he palmed the little boy's cranium. Ruffing up his locks a bit, he said, "You've got a long way to go brat... buuutttt you can still make it."

With an lucid smile Inari smacked Naruto's hand off his head. "As if _you _could ever tell me that, but my mom and Tazuna told me about how you were going to fight in order to save us, so I guess you can say something." Naruto just chuckled and walked away through the crowd, disappearing from Inari's view.

"Kakashi told me of how you helped fought so hard against Zabuza and his accomplice, You should be proud of what you have done."

"And I am Tazuna-san, oh and I hope that you guys had fun with Gato."

"You bet!" He said throwing his fist in the air. With that Naruto walked ahead and joined the others at the wagon and before he was out of hearing distance Tazuna yelled out, "Oh and you can keep the horses!"

Kakashi gave one last wave to everyone before manning the front seat of the wagon while the others got inside; from within the walls of the wagon the roar of the townspeople was nothing but a low whisper comparable to a waterfall cascading down into the distance.

"Hyah!" Kakashi yelled as he stirred the two horses into a slow trot that soon built up into a moderate gallop, as the rode further away the patter of horse hooves became lower until it reduced itself to nothing.

That was when Tsunami and Inari walked up behind Tazuna.

"They were an interesting bunch, wouldn't you say so?" Tsunami asked Tazuna.

"That they were, they helped us and I am forever grateful. And you know, I think I finally came up with a name for the bridge."

"And what is it gramps," Inari asked tugging on his grandfather's pants.

With a satisfied grin Tazuna yelled it out, "I'll name it the Great Naruto Bridge!" Tazuna rested his hands on his hips, showing his teeth through an enthusiastic grin. It was time for him to get back to finishing that bridge; little did he know, there was a mess waiting for him on the bridge that would make all who had to clean it go insane.

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Damn, I'm done... finally. Ah yes, now how was that? Did that chapter rock or did it totally suck... I need you to tell me your opinions.

And like that, Naruto and co. have left the land of the waves and are returning to Konoha. Of course this means, that some new characters will be introduced and like some of you have so viciously ask me to do so, Hinata will now be joining the story. Yep that's right, finally some Naruto Hinata action, of course that means that she will have to catch up with Larxene and Haku, but hey I can work something out. She might be making her appearance in maybe a chapter or two, along with the fourth harem member, Xion.

What's kind of funny though is that this chapter only took me two days to finish, yeah, and seeing as how I went into this state of what seemed to me like insomnia, I got a lot of writing done in such a small amount of time. I guess that's what happens when you can't go to sleep and have two computers and a laptop at your disposal.

If I must critique myself then I guess I would say that I wish that I could have put more into this chapter, you know what I mean? I actually don't feel so thrilled about this chapter, as wierd as that may sound, but I hope to hear what you guys think about it so don't forget to review.

**aLERT!!!!: **This is a crucial point for my story, I am currently at a total review count of two hundred and ninety reviews. That means that I am only TEN reviews away from attaining my goal of three hundred plus reviews. As you all know, more reviews means... well more reviews! So what I'm trying to say is that I want you to help me get above three hundred, maybe even three hundred and ten or higher if you guys are feeling generous. Do it or else...... I'll do something... not cool, but bad... yeah I'll do something really bad.

Alrighty then.

Top Five Reviewers:

I.E.T.S. ( I just busted out laughing when I read this)

Reaper INI

Weasal

naruto-namikaze-no-puppet

Chronostorm

Ok, you all know the deal....go on to their profiles, yada yada....their so fucking badass and blah blabbity blah....black people....? wah wait what I just say....uhhh never mind. Seriously follow my advice and check out their profiles, you know many people do not really do this. I hate it when people are all like dam I'm so bored I need a new story to read an what not and all that crap.....see they wouldn't be bored if they knew that going on other people's profile's and looking at their favorite stories and original stories is actually the best way to find a decent worthwhile fanfic. In addition, it gives the person whose profile it is more hits and out reviews so it works out for everyone.

So hurry up and check these guys out

Um yeaaa....I don't think that the guess list will catch on, so you know what? I think I'm gonna scrap that idea.

No more guess list.

Anyway, like I always say,

Read and Review

LATR

Next chapter: Eye of the beholder

GrIm'S sTePpIn OuT!


	15. Eye of the beholder

Yeaaah boiiii

Hey, this is the fifteenth chapter of my story Sacred Mark of The Rising Kekkei Genkai. Well, how did everyone like the last chapter... huh? A little bit of mushy mushy never hurt anybody, and apparently it really didn't hurt any reader who read the last chapter. So as you can see I have planned out a bit of a surprise for Sasuke, especially now that Naruto and Co. are returning to Konoha. I mean I'd rather not do it but I have to find something for Sasuke and his slave Sakura to do while Naruto and his girls are off being badass. And of course you what what that means, if Naruto is being badass and Sasuke's not then that sets up for a really really really nice string of bashings... all aimed at Sasuke-kun and the pink-haired banshee. but sadly you won't see what I have in store for the uchiha and his bitch in this chapter, you'll have to wait... why you ask, because I'm a douche... and also because I want to use this chapter to do something that does not involve sasuke or his banshee woman.

All Sasu/Saku haters can enjoy themselves while reading, however, all fans... well I'd rather not say. (You computer screens might explode.)

But anyway, let me say that there will be a little bit more of that good ol' mushy crap that everyone seems to love oh so much. Like really, was that all it took to get you guys to respond? I should started doing shit like this chapters ago. Plus I'm now going to start getting into who that 'angel' was that visited Hinata several chapters prior to this. You'll find out exactly what who it was and how that person has affected our white/lavender-eyed friend that we all love. (And if you say that you hate her, well... fuck you and I hope that you end up in the sixth circle of hell! Or end up stranded somewhere in Nebraska, same thing. Whichever comes first I'll be cool with it. (Better yet, forget that I even said that... heh)

Anyway it's time for that period where I tell you guys things that have no relation to the story whatsoever, like no type of related factor going on, I'm talking complete randomness. A couple weeks ago I got really fucking sick, so sick that mom let me skip school and instead of me blatantly taking advantage of that and using my free time to do... some of the... darker things that a person would do, I just sleep! Yeah I just slept, the entire time... I didn't get up to eat! And what's even funnier, the day I began to feel better, I didn't sleep at all. I slept at six o' clock the next morning that day. (confusing huh... but whoever said that randomness had to make sense?)

OK, ummm, hope that you all like it, uhh.... ahhhh.....uhhh, ummmm yea....enjoy.

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

They return, they reveal, awkward (wow that really does sound awkward, I just lost five bucks)

Zabuza's muscles ached as he fought of the urge to shift himself and risk breaking the concentration that he worked so hard to maintain. His body had been set in stone for the past nineteen hours; his muscled arms burning with the acid of fatigue and his legs cried out in agony, protesting that he allow them to be free and move about. Since he had the conversation with Zexin the day _before_, he had not left this room. Not even for a second did he veer away from his path of concentration, if this was the way to his power then he was willing to sacrifice the comfort of his body just to attain it.

However, it was becoming a rather large albatross; just a big nuisance to say the least. Who would have ever thought that sitting in one position for and extended period of time could bring so much pain to the body? Not him, that's for sure.

Ignoring the soreness in his extremities, Zabuza sub-consciously released a grunt that , by his own luck, was not enough to draw him out of his intense reverie. At the moment, he felt all the pain that his body had become subject to, however, he paid them no mind and dove deep within himself.

He could feel it now, no longer would his concentration be able to be broken, he was in complete isolation from the outside world; he had done it, he was on the inside.

At first all he saw on the inside was just pitch blackness, a dark void completely without any light and he was confused as to what he was even looking at. After a few seconds he came to the realization that he was looking at himself, his soul. On the outside where his body still sat cross legged, a single bead of sweat slithered like a snake down the ridge of his nose until it fell to the ground below, it bothered him not, but he still felt it however just barely.

His mental eye widened with surprise, since when had his soul become so... tainted? May he had really become a demon over the course of these many years on the run, it seemed that even Haku's affection was not enough to save his soul from being thrown into the black pit. But it's not like it mattered, there was no turning back now.

As he braced himself and cast himself even deeper into the depths of his soul, Zabuza released another sigh on the outside. Soon the darkness had faded away, shedding its blackness to make way for a dim purple light that covered the entire expanse of Zabuza's empty soul. In the very middle of that purple lit void awaited what Zabuza wanted.

'W-what is that thing?'

At first Zabuza did not know how to react upon seeing this, residing within him was a grotesque... thing. He stared at a purple flame, it's light being the only source of visibility in Zabuza's dark soul and wrapped around it, clutching the fire like a child on its mother, a red-skinned demon imp. It was naked, bestial, its arms almost as long as its body, and it's short horns jutted from the top of his head, curling toward the back of its head like two ivory colored worms. By the steady pace of its chest, Zabuza could tell that the thing was alive; it was only asleep, a tiny demon child sleeping on his bed, which was none other then Zabuza's soul.

Perplexed by this spawn of unknown origin Zabuza opened his mind's lips to speak, however his voice was cut off when the imp's giant eyelids opened with an audible click, revealing a pitch black cornea with a gray iris surrounding a shining purple pupil. Surely this could not be what resided within him, this could not be his weapon. A smile stretched across the imp's turned face, an unnatural gleam in its many fangs, and the it turned its head fully so that both eyes could gaze at Zabuza.

Startled and drawn back by sudden consternation, Zabuza could only stay silent, not daring to utter a word to the demon child.

"Zabuza I presume?" The imp said. Upon hearing his voice Zabuza's mouth hung low; on the outside world he began to breath abnormally hard. The sound of this thing's voice had brought him so much dread the instant it said its first word, it was not human yet it sounded as such... what was even more surprising was that this demon sounded like Haku!

"What are you!" Zabuza yelled, his mental voice at its full volume.

It chuckled, this time it sound much different, its voice was much deeper, a striking baritone that one would expect from a demon.

"Are you confused, are you scared," it asked in its deep vibrating voice, then in Haku's it voice once again said, "Because I can help you find what you want."

This time Zabuza's voice was a bit more subdued. "Who are you?" Was this really what a demon was like, it was so small yet so small... powerful. By oration alone, this imp could strike fear into Zabuza, it caused the man to feel small, minuscule, he was a tiny insect in the palm of this demon child and there was nothing in he could do about it and for the first time in his life Zabuza had actually felt that he did not deserve the title demon. For if he was a demon as people claimed, then he was a poor one at best, nothing in comparison to the small yet powerful deity.

Being drawn back by a chuckle made by the demon's deeper voice yet again Zabuza swallowed as he prepared himself for what the demon was about to say. After another long chuckle it said, "I am Konton." It opened its fang-lined maw, releasing from it a series of bizarre clicks that sounded like cicadas, from right to left did it sway its bulbous head with beastly quality.

It opened it's mouth once more, "I see that you seek to grasp the treasures hidden within your heart." It used Haku's voice once again. "Dig into my flame, and you shall find for yourself, what you seek." The sweet tone of his former subordinates voice brought back a sense of comfort that he did not want to feel while looking upon the fierce visage of this demon imp.

Slowly Zabuza brought his hand up to the flickering purple flame and once his hand was close enough for him to feel the intense heat radiating, the purple orb flared up in a vibrant display of light that forced Zabuza to close his eyes. "Aww, fuck it!' he yelled, completely abandoning all rational thought and quickly cast his hand into the very center of the globular flame.

To his surprise, the intense heat that he had felt while he held his hand outside of the flame had disappeared into oblivion once he actually placed his hand inside the fire. Experimentally, he flexed, feeling no pain as his bent his fingers into a tight fist. The fire was like liquid, mellifluous, and dancing around his hand like it was alive; if he had to be honest he would have to say that this fire felt more like a cool pool of water than it did fire.

"What is th-,' he froze when his tightly curled fist hit something hard, something metallic. Out of a mere frisson Zabuza instinctively latched onto the metal-substance and found that it was actually a hilt. As he was about to pull he froze and cast look at the imp before him who only smiled, baring his ostentatiously white teeth at the former demon of the mist.

"Go on take it, it is yours and yours only, Zabuza-san this weapon is of your inner creation and shall be used by no other person but you. Believe it or not, this is your inner weapon... now claim it." Konton's last words died off slowly, a faint whisper retreating into nothing, his voice still sounding like that of Haku's.

"With pleasure,"he said with a smile, "Slowly he pulled the handle out, it was black and at the end of the long pole-like hilt was a skull shaped cap. As he extracted his inner weapon he began to see the hand-guard of the sinister-looking weapon. Coming off the end of the near the bottom of the blade was what looked like two horns sticking out on both sides. The blade itself was a work in its own, long, broad, and serrated along its entire length of ten feet. It curved slightly upward, giving it the impression that it was made specifically for slashing and shredding and in the middle, a small indentation that ran along the side of the huge wicked zanbanto. He smiled at his own reflection on the glossy surface of the black metal.

His mind swarming with glee, Zabuza chuckled evilly at his new weapon, on the surface of the blade, he could see a faint purple glow that flowed up his arm and embedded itself into his entire body. Once again he turned to Konton, an insane grin plastered on the little demon's face.

"Now... call its name," Konton said before releasing that same series of clicks that was starting to creep Zabuza out. Still Zabuza did not waver and he closed his eye for a moment before opening them a moment later.

Then from his lips, he uttered, "This is, my blade..... Onichigo, the demon's child." How he knew of this blade's name, Zabuza wasn't sure but at the moment it really did not matter. All that mattered now was the glowing tool of destruction in his hand.

In a low whisper Konton said, "Yeeeessssss, that's it, now go." The small demon extended one of its long lanky arms, black finger nails now hovering just in front of his Zabuza's head, and touched the man's head, embedding its entire finger through the man's skull and without so much as a single word Zabuza opened his eyes on the outside world and he stared at the ground of the brightly lit platform in Castle Saiki. His breath was shallow and his face was laced with a thin layer of sweat; out of consternation he jumped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Looking up he saw Zexin standing there, his red eyes staring and observing carefully.

"Have you found it?"

To answer the man's question Zabuza stood up, ignoring his fatigue and inanition, and held his hand out and with a violent swing of his arm, summoned his new weapon in a vibrant display of black fire and jammed the blade into the floor.

With a chuckle Zabuza said, "Does that answer your question?"

"Of course, I am very pleased with your results... with your new weapon you have now been admitted within the ranks of the Saiki... oh and tell me, are you planning to name you inner weapon?"

"Well... I am known as the demon of the mist, hence I shall name this weapon Onichigo, demon's child." Zexin's eye flared with approval.

"A fitting name for a blade so evil."

"Indeed, now... tell me, is there a place where I can test this bad boy out?"

"Yes, follow me." Zexin then turned to walk away but was stopped when Zabuza grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, can you tell me... who is Konton?"

Zexin only laughed...," Konton is the reason why we are all here, he's a demon, whom we get our power from. Actually, this entire castle is built upon his seal... oh come, I'll explain on the way to the training grounds." Zexin said as he created another one of the dark gates with his finger and stepped inside.

"Whatever," was all that Zabuza said as he followed the man into the portal leading to who knows where.

----

The shrouded outline of Konoha became visible in the distance as Naruto stuck his head out of one of the windows of the horse driven wagon. It had taken a long time, but they had gotten there and apparently, even with two of them, horses weren't nearly as fast as a shinobi on foot. The rush of wind blowing back his golden locks came to a stop as he drew his head back into the wagon.

Overall, it had been a really boring ride. All he had seen for the entire time was the constant rush of trees passing by the window outside and pretty much nothing else. They had been riding for the past three hours, stopping only to allow the horses to rest and to stretch their arms and legs; on one of their stops they had come across a large lake that provided Naruto with a slight change in scenery but that soon ended as they soon continued their trip the instant the horses were fully rested.

In his attempts to 'spice things up' and provide him with some entertainment, Naruto locked his gaze onto the blond girl next to him. The ride back to Konoha was about to get really... awkward.

Larxene, who sat to his right, paid him no heed when he plopped down on the seat next to her and dropped his head on her shoulder playfully. Upon feeling the tickle of Naruto's unruly hair Larxene flinched, a severe blush forming on her face.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked, however she did not move instead she let Naruto's head remain where it was.

"Nothing, I'm just bored that's all." He said as he moved closer to her. Haku, who had been playing with Tomo only giggled at Naruto's lucid attitude, she knew exactly what Naruto was trying to do. The last time Naruto had gotten so close to her, the look on Larxene's face had been priceless, however, if Naruto went too far she would have to step in. After all, she couldn't let Larxene have all the fun even if people were watching. The brown-eyed girl then cast a quick glance at the faces of Naruto's two other comrades, the pink-haired girl had a visible blush on her face and the black-haired one just looked of to the side, trying to look away from the scene that was about to occur.

Tomo, then let out a small squeak as if she understood what Haku was thinking; just one of the many things she loved about Tomo, the bird was a mind reader.

"G-get, off of me."

"But I know you like it," Naruto then began rubbing his hair against Larxene's shoulder, making sure to rub his hair against her neck, "stop denying it." He let out a little chuckle. Larxene then brought her head up and slid Naruto's head off of her shoulder.

"Not, here... do it later." Larxene then gasped, her face bright red, and looked away fully aware of what she had just said. Now Naruto knew that she would allow his 'playful' side to come out, although only in private. She glared at Haku when the girl let out another giggle along with her pet falcon, Tomo, who let out another squeal.

"Naruto," the blond's head snapped toward the sound of Sasuke's voice, "if you're not too busy over there with your little girlfriend, I'd like to ask you something." The Uchiha flinched when Larxene glared at him, but he relaxed when Naruto put his arm in front of Larxene, stopping her from doing anything too drastic. Naruto himself wondered whether or not Larxene got mad that Sasuke called her his girlfriend or if it was because he referred to her as little.

"What do want?" he asked, his expression instantly becoming serious, he could see that the look on the Uchiha's face meant that he wanted to ask something of importance.

"When you and Kakashi had that conversation back in Tsunami's kitchen, you said something that intrigued me, I want to know... just who the hell are the Namikaze?" Haku had always liked peace and quiet but the silence that ensued Sasuke's question was enough to make her a little uncomfortable. True it create a tense atmosphere but she couldn't lie to herself and say that she was not interested in learning a bit more about Naruto's clan.

As the faint sounds of horse hooves beating on the ground filled the air, Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. "And why would you want to know, Sasuke?" There was a certain amount of hostility in Naruto's voice that was telling the young Genin to back off, however, Sasuke was never good at reading people's tones.

"Because, like I said, it intrigues me. I have never heard of a Namikaze clan before, and when you mentioned it got me interested and when there's something that I want to figure out,I go after it." Sakura just stared at her crush with admiring eyes, she was probably thinking something like 'you're so cool'. Naruto was surprised however, that was only slightly arrogant; to be honest Naruto had expected response that was a bit more highhanded from the Uchiha. Perhaps that stick in his ass was beginning to slip out a bit.

"Well, let me tell you that you won't get what you want today, that info is strictly esoteric and should not have been even mentioned, however, I only mentioned it because Kakashi was there and needed to understand my plan." Sasuke glared at him, to which he returned with a glare of his own. But then Naruto smiled and chuckled.

"What the hell's so funny?" Sasuke asked, his face becoming even more heated than it was before, he leaned forward in an attempt to intimidate Naruto. Sakura who up until now had been staring at him had retreated to her corner, not daring to say anything.

"That tickles," Naruto said causing Sasuke to raise an eyebrow, "That pathetic KI that you keep sending my way, please, I thought we already went through this once before; you are not stronger than me. Your puny killing intent is enough to verify that fact, I suggest that you just drop the topic... unless you want to try and beat it out of me?" Naruto said with a smirk on his face. He smiled when Haku, once again, giggled. For some reason, Sasuke's expression was funny to her, although it was a shame that she could not hear about Naruto's clan. But she was not worried, she knew that Naruto would tell her if she asked him... nicely.

A scowl formed on Sasuke's face as he growled and stood up grabbed the collar of Naruto's jacket. "Fine! I will beat it out of you, as soon as we get back to Konoha we'll have a match, if I win you tell me what I want to know an-," however Sasuke was cut off in mid-sentence when the wagon came to an abrupt stop and he was rocked back and forth by the sudden lack of motion. It was moments later that Kakashi opened the door.

With a hand placed behind his head the silver-haired Jounin gave an eye smile. "Sorry to interrupt but... we're here."

"Well it's about time," Larxene said stretching, she then stood and to walk out of the wagon... although it was more of a low crouch, considering the the wagon's low ceilings. "You two can finish this later." The sound of her boots hitting the ground was followed by four others, for she was soon followed out of the wagon by Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Haku.

"Fine, but I don't see why he wants to fight, even though he'll lose," Naruto said.

"You want to bet!" Sasuke replied fiercely, the tone of his voice carrying some obvious contempt.

A brief forest zephyr blew from the trees and guided everyone faces west. Haku, whose long hair blew into her mouth, spat and gasped when she saw the large the green gates towering over her entire. Like a wall of lustrous jade, beautiful and strong; the gates of Konoha stood tall with the leaf symbol etched in a red on the left side of the grand doors. On the right side, also in red, was the some weird unrecognizable kanji.

"OMG," was all that she could say. (That's right, she said OMG! I've been saying it a lot and I thought, what the hell why not put it in my fic... so live with it!) Her lower lip hung loosely in awe until she turned her head to Naruto and mouthed the words silently, '_Is this it?'_. When Naruto nodded, a smile made its way across her face. "It looks... amazing!" She said aloud; Tomo, who was on her shoulder now also gave happy squeak.

She was broken out of her admiration of the great gates when Naruto's hand touched her shoulder.

"If you liked the gate then wait until you see the inside...," his finger tapped his chin, "Later on after we get you and Larxene situated in the village, I know a place that has the perfect view of the village, I'll take you there once we get inside."

"Really?" Haku said while clasping Naruto's hands and bringing her face close to his, her eyes were beaming. However once she realized what she was doing her face turned red and she pulled away. "S-sorry about that."

"No problem, but why are you so excited?" Naruto asked, now interested by her reaction. Honestly he didn't think that much of the gates; sure the were something to look at and when struck by the right light they gave of a pretty impressive glow. Even with the gates in all their glory Naruto still could not see what was so great about them. But then a thought struck him mind and he looked at Haku with unusual concentration.

"Well I have never-..." however Haku stopped in the middle of her sentence, distracted by the intense gaze Naruto was giving her and because of it she blushed a little, "W-what?" she asked shyly.

"Is this your first time seeing something like this?"

"Y-yes, back in my home, Kirigakure no Sato, I never saw anything as beautiful as this before... Due to the kekkei genkai extermination project kiri was torn down from the inside out and it was never rebuilt; at least not to its original condition. So for a better part of my childhood, all I saw were the shabby streets and worn-out stores and signs that were never replaced or even fixed for that matter," A blush appeared over her nose and she twiddled her fingers, which Naruto couldn't help but think he had seen before, "So I guess I was just taken back by the gates, I'm just not used to things like things." When she said it she cast another glance at the gates and another smile came onto her face.

At that moment Naruto had to admit that her face had been one of the most beautiful things that he had ever seen, she was pretty to say the least. But then that thought came back to Naruto, at the moment Haku seemed exactly like he did when he first saw the gates of Konoha from the outside. As a child he had the same expression of awe that she held now; the thought of it made him smile to himself... on the inside of course.

He was drawn back by the sound of Kakashi's voice. "Hey are you guys coming or what?" Naruto looked over and saw that it was only he and Haku standing there, everyone else had already began walking toward the gates.

Haku let out as squeak as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, Tomo let out a screech as well. "Well, let's go; the sooner we get inside the sooner I can take you to that spot."

They then walked toward Kakashi and the others, along the way Tomo hopped onto Naruto's shoulder and let out a harsh screech that caused him to let go of Haku. Apparently Tomo was a bit protective of Haku.

Naruto slowly turned his head toward Tomo, to which the bird mirrored with avian quality and said, "stupid overprotective bird." Tomo replied by attempting to nip Naruto's nose. He let out a grunt when he heard Haku giggle next to him.

---- (Sandaime's office, Hokage tower)

Naruto for some reason was in a bit of a bad mood. It funny how ticked off he could get on a walk from the main gate to ojiisan's office. First off, the instant the the gates were opened he got a face full of stares from everyone passing by and not the good kind. Secondly, they were confronted by the two gate watchmen about the identities of Haku and Larxene. Of course he had expected this but he still wished that he could did not have to explain the circumstances in which they were allowed to entire; and of course because of their lowly status as Chuunin Naruto had to lie to them and say that Sasuke was the one taking Haku and Larxene in as his subordinates.

Sure it wasn't true but it still got him mad, and Sasuke himself seemed to find some pleasure in looking at Naruto's perturbed expression when he let out that little white lie. But it was all to keep his status as a Namikaze under wraps, so he could bear with it.

After they got past the watchmen Kakashi dismissed Sasuke and Sakura; now all they had to do was walk to the Hokage tower, which should have been pretty simple right? WRONG! All along the way Haku kept stopping to stare at things and ''ooh' and "ahh" at the little stores lining the streets of Konoha. That didn't really bother him, what really ticked him off was how every time he tried to pull Haku away from something, Tomo, who was still on his shoulder at the time started pecking at his head with the stupid hooked beak of hers, discomfiting his attempts at pulling Haku away from her reverie. As of now his face was covered with a couple of bruises and the collar of his jacket was badly torn all thanks to that stupid bird.

To say that he was ticked off was an understatement, his obvious annoyance was so obvious that it would take a dunce to not notice that he was mad, or maybe Sasuke. He noticed it, Kakashi noticed it, Larxene noticed it, Haku noticed it, hell even the Sandaime noticed his anger.

Which would explain why the senescent man was staring at him with such hard concentration.

"Naruto-kun, are you feeling well... you seem rather... frustrated." Sarutobi said before taking a deep drag of his pipe. He blew the smoke out in three little rings that floated off and dissipated into nothing.

"Well... I've been better." he said; Haku giggled when he cast a glance at her Tomo.

"Ah well that's good to hear, so tell me how did your mission go... and who are these two young ladies you have here?" The skin around the old man's eyes tightened as best as it could as he smiled at both Haku and Larxene.

Naruto then walked up. "Well that is one _long_ story Ojiisan, I hope you're comfortable because you might be sitting there for a while."

Sarutobi responded by leaning back in his chair and letting out a small chuckle. "I've got time Naruto-kun." His pithy statement gave Naruto the initiative to begin telling tale of what exactly occurred in wave.

He told him of how they were attacked by Oni brothers and Zabuza and how Marlucia was aiding them. When Naruto mentioned Marlucia, Sarutobi seemed to show more interest and sat up straight in his seat. Like a computer Naruto recited the recent events of what had befallen him and the others. How he met up with Larxene and Haku, how he went insane, and Zabuza's feral transformation. Kakashi was the one who described Zabuza's change seeing as how he was he first person to see and actually do battle with it. Naruto then picked up again and told of the battle with Marlucia and Zabuza and how it was Zabuza that killed Marlucia and took his place in the Saiki.

All through it Sarutobi payed close attention to the story, no doubt storing it in that massive supper computer he called a brain. He wasn't called The Professor for nothing. He only interrupted Naruto to ask minor questions and make light commentary.

The entire process had taken about twenty-five minutes(which is fucking long) and once he was finished Sarutobi leaned forward and took another drag of his pipe. "Well, sounds as if you had a rough time," his expression grew serious as he gazed a his desk, "I can't believe that that demon Zabuza has gotten himself entangled in this mess." His head shifted upward and his eyebrow did the same, "For what reason would Zabuza have for attacking you?"

Naruto then took a step back, allowing Kakashi to take his place. When Sarutobi's stolid gaze shifted from Naruto to Kakashi, the silver-haired man began. "Well, there is a reason on that. Along the way, we discovered that Tazuna had a bounty on his head and he lied about the actual rank of the mission. It was not a C-rank, rather it was a A-ranked one; and because of his town's condition Tazuna did not have the means to pay for an A-ranked mission... he told me when he and I were walking along the way."

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. "I see... how unfortunate; it is apparent that Nami's fall during Kiri's period of civil chaos was a great one indeed. It is a shame that Tazuna had to stoop to such low methods in order to attain his goal, however, I shall not place it against him... I understand where he was coming from." Naruto then smiled a bit, the kindness of a Hokage... perhaps he would have that one day... but then again... perhaps not.

Naruto then stepped up once more and placed his palms on the polished wooden desk in front of him. "Well, now that that's over, I'd like to discuss the main reason that these two behind me are here," he jutted his thumb behind him, "I want to bring these two into the village... as Kunoichi."

Sarutobi grimaced before sighing deeply, "Naruto... that isn't allowed, you should know that. As you have already mentioned, they are not from this village and according to the law of fire country, outsiders who have no known business with a hidden village should not be allowed to enter said village," he paused for affect, "Unless they are brought in as either a criminal or as a retrieved nuke-nin. How you even managed to get them into the village without having them escorted here by Anbu as prisoners is beyond me. Really, if I must tell you the truth," he cast a dead eye at both Larxene and Haku, "these two should be held in confinement as of now."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit; why the hokage's mood had changed so suddenly when he mentioned making Larxene and Haku kunoichi, Naruto did not know however he wasn't going to take that. Leaning further forward he said, "You can't do that Ojiisan."

"Oh that I can Naruto, and as sorry as I am to say it... if you try and defend them then I will be forced to consider you as an... enemy" That one was hard to say, it was like trying to through up a lump of pure iron. Even the thought of having to put Naruto behind bars was enough to make the old man shudder inside. Despite the difficulty of going against Naruto, Sarutobi was still a scrupulous man and he had to show that he was deeply attached to the rules and principles of Hi no Kuni.

With a quick snap of his fingers both Larxene and Haku were restrained by two Anbu who seemed to walk out of the shadows in the corner of the room and pin them to the ground. The Hokage then turned to Kakashi whose expression had barely changed throughout the entire ordeal and said in a serious tone, "Hatake-san you were aware of the status of these two girls and yet you still allowed them to enter with you and your team?"

Lazily Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Um, there is a perfectly good explanation for that."

"And what could that be?"

Naruto felt the hot sting of anger well up in his abdomen, however it quickly cooled down for he still had his trump card. "Tsk, Tsk... a Hokage not even following the law of the land, not good Ojiisan."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"You seem to forget, Ojiisan, that I am part a certain group of people," Naruto said, flashing on his geostigma. Although the two Anbu seemed completely oblivious to what was going on around them, Naruto still could mention his clan name around anyone who wasn't allowed to hear it. Apparently Sarutobi got the message as he motioned for the two Anbu to loosen their grip.

Naruto went on. "Seeing as how, I am part of that group and I am the last one, I am automatically its leader and with the power invested in me through that leadership I have already made these two my subordinates." Naruto smiled as Sarutobi's eyes widened. "So I suggest you have your men let go of my subordinates, or would you rather break the law that has been set in fire country and give up your position as Hokage?"

The old man could not believe it, Naruto had pulled a fast one on him, a way that protected those two girls from the law by using the law. He would have said that he was proud but, that wouldn't be right for the moment. Using his status as the Namikaze clan head to protect those two girls from the law... that was pretty smart.

Sarutobi then let out a low chuckle. "An ingenious method Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, you could call it that." Naruto replied. Sarutobi motioned for the two Anbu to release Haku and Larxene and with a swift waving motion of his hand, they were gone.

"Now," Naruto began, "Shall we discuss the terms in which my two subordinates here will become Kunoichi?" Naruto asked.

With a sigh and a deep groan Sarutobi took another puff of his pipe. "If we must..."

---

Yuuhi Kurenai gasped when she seen what had just happened. Was Hyuuga _Hinata _ beating her two teammates in a spar simultaneously? Kurenai's surprised expression was hidden by the shade of a tree, her eyes locked solely on the Hyuuga heiress a couple of meters away from her. Recently, Hinata had been training harder than usual, to Kurenai it seemed as if she was flying right past her team.

It had stared about a couple weeks ago, when Hinata had challenged her to a spar. Although the she lost, Kurenai did notice the way Hinata fought that day. Her movements prior to that day were nothing like they were when they were sparring. The white-eyed girl had put an abnormal amount of aggression in her "gentle" fist strikes that day; they were slightly swifter than usual as well. And if Kurenai's memory served her correctly she also remembered observing a blast of wind hitting her face from the side when she barely dodged one of Hinata's strikes.

Hyuuga Hinata was a completely different girl now, especially compared to how she acted a few weeks ago. The way she was now, Kurenai would not be surprised if Hinata could manage to get a it off of her during a spar. There was no stutter in her voice anymore and no longer did she she shrink away whenever she attracted some attention to herself. Whoever this Hinata was, Kurenai could not help but feel proud for her while at the same time feel a bit uneasy about her. First off... just what in Kami's name could cause her to undergo this kind of change?

Her first thought was that it was Hinata's father who had somehow forced the girl to make a change, but unfortunately that wasn't it. If Hyuuga Hiashi wanted to force his daughter to become different then he would have done so a long time ago; he'd much rather shun her away and deem her as a failure. And besides, after many conversations with Hinata, it was made apparent that the drastic change in her demeanor was of her own will.

It was not just the way that Hinata acted that had changed, the young girl had also changed her appearance. She stopped wearing the thick jacket that she had always worn, instead she simply wore a tightly fitted black ninja shirt and underneath that a mesh shirt that could only be seen because it stuck out past her the bottom of her shirt and covered her belly button. Over top that she wore, believe it or not, a loose, dark lavender jacket that had on the back the Hyuuga family crest, a flame in the shape of a teardrop. (You know similar to the one her father wears but just a different color) She usually only took it off when she sparred.

Hinata's sudden change in wardrobe had caused her to attract a lot of attention around the village, especially from the male portion; it seemed that underneath the heavy folds of her old jacket there was a growing young woman. For some time, Hinata had been the topic of almost all the males her age group, anyone with eyes would have been able to figure that out.

Kurenai was broken out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of breaking tree bark. She blinked hard and then noticed that Hinata had just knocked one of her other students, Kiba, into the trunk of a tree and apparently it was without any mercy; judging from the amount of cracks running along the tree trunk Hinata had smacked Kiba back pretty hard.

Kurenai stood to walk over, it had been a day without any promising missions, they needed a break.

"OK, you can stop, our training session is over." Kurenai yelled walking over to her team, her hair flowing behind her as it was pushed by a cooling breeze."Hinata, you've been improving more and more lately, I'm impressed." Kurenai said giving the panting Hyuuga a smile.

"Yeah Hinata... just what have you been taking lately," Kiba said panting. Akamaru, who had fallen off his head when he was knocked against the tree crawled over to his owner's lap and Kiba himself just lifted his head up, letting out a large sigh of fatigue, "Whatever it is... give me some of that, I need it." The dog user let out a small chuckle when Hinata giggle at his joke.

"I agree Hinata, you've shown a substantial increase in progress and strength ever since you and Kurenai-sensei sparred, what is your secret?" Shino came adjusted his glassed as he walked up to his team. The ever stolid Aburame then reached into his pocket and tossed Hinata a small white towel. Although no one else could see it, Kurenai saw that her aloof pupil was also panting heavily behind the high collar of his jacket.

"Thanks," She said before plunging her face into the snow-white cloth, wiping the sweat from her skin. She pulled away, "I don't really have a secret, I just have been training harder than I normally do, that's all." She bowed when Kurenai handed her Hyuuga family jacket, she thanked her sensei and slipped it on, leaving it open in the front. While doing it she let her gaze fall, technically she was telling the truth, she had been training harder than usual but what she could not mention was her real secret: the real reason why she had been training so hard, Angel.

It was Angel's guidance that had motivated her to train, she said that if she had become stronger Naruto would acknowledge her and so far she was pleased with her results and she was sure that Naruto would be as well. In the back of her head Hinata could feel Angel saying something to her, she then opened up their link.

_'What is it Angel-sama?' _

_'I sense something, rather someone's presence... by the feel of it is Uzumaki Naruto's' _Hinata's eyes widened and she let out a little gasp.

_'Naruto-kun has come back from his mission!' _She said to herself, although she did not realize her sudden change in facial expression.

"Hinata, are you okay... you seem distracted." Kiba said noticing how Hinata seemed a bit oblivious for a second.

"O-oh no I'm fine, just thinking about something, that's all." She said as she went back to her conversation with Angel.

_'Angel-sama, do you know where he is?'_

_'In fact yes, his presence seems to be somewhere near the center of your village.'_

_'Dammit, I need to find a way to leave.'  
_

"Well, I think you all need a break, I'll let you all off today... dismissed." Kurenai said making Hinata smile. Hinata never thought that she'd ever be so happy to here the word dismissed. She quickly said her goodbyes and dashed away from the training grounds, leaving a cloud a dust, causing everyone to sweat drop.

"I-Is Hinata okay?" Kiba said looking at his sensei and teammate, who both just shrugged.

---

Naruto walked out of the Hokage Tower feeling much better than he did when he walked in. Next to him on either side were Haku and Larxene, Tomo, to his annoyance perched herself on his shoulder, most likely to make sure that he didn't try and come near Haku. Kakashi had stayed back in Ojiisan's office, saying that he had something that he needed to discuss with the Hokage.

Ojiisan had agreed to make Larxene and Haku kunoichi, although he did mention that it might have taken sometime, specifically a day or two. First he would have to set up a time for the rank assessment. They would take a test... well more like a trial of sorts, supervised by the Hokage himself, in order to figure out what rank the two girls would be given. He had also registered Larxene and Haku as Naruto's subordinates, thereby making them official members of the Namikaze clan, something that had greatly improved Naruto's mood.

However, that information was to be held behind closed doors therefore no one was supposed to find out, unless Naruto wished for it.

He looked to his right, Haku had once again began looking around in amazement. "Haku...." She did not answer him back, completely oblivious to the world around him.

"Haku..."

Nothing.

"Haku...."

He then let out a sigh, "Haku-chan."

"Huh... oh, Naruto did you call me?" Naruto then let out another sigh, he found it funny how Haku responded when he added the honorific to her name.

"Yeah, I did," he looked up at the sky, "We've got a lot of time, so how about we go to that place I told about right now?" Naruto said about to put his arm around Haku's shoulder, but he stopped when he felt the sudden ruffle of feathers on his shoulders... stupid bird.

"Huh... u-uh sure... I guess but what about Lar-chan?" Haku said looking toward Larxene.

Larxene folded her arms and scoffed, "No, I'm not coming, I'll be looking around by myself." Actually the reason she wasn't coming was because she wasn't sure what Naruto would do, she did recall saying in the wagon, that she would allow him to do _something_ to her later and to Naruto the something that she had in mind would be completely different in his. So for now she would stay away, and even though she might have liked what Naruto would do, she figured that she just wouldn't be ready for it... what _it_ was.

Naruto then turned to Haku once more, "Looks like, its just you... me," with an annoyed glance at Tomo he said, "and the bird."

Haku then giggled, "She won't be a problem," Haku extended her hand and Tomo hopped on. She scratched the falcon underneath her beak and moved over to Larxene. "Could you please?"

Larxene's brow rose, "What... you want me to... oh no way." But then Haku gave her a puppy dog face and Larxene soon felt it hard to give in. "Oh fine, but just this once, consider it a favor."

"Thanks Lar-chan," Haku said going back over to Naruto and with that Naruto and Haku walked off into the crowd, leaving Larxene and Tomo to wonder the streets by themselves.

Larxene then turned to Tomo who had perched herself on her shoulder,"So what do you want to do?" Tomo responded with a loud squeak that had left Larxene clueless. How Haku could somehow understand this bird was a mystery in its own.

"That's what I thought you would say," Larxene said before sighing and walking off into the crowd herself.

---- (With Naruto and Haku)

Right, now Haku was in a good mood to say the least. While her home wasn't the best place to live, it did have its good points where one could sit and enjoy the view, but those small almost unnoticeable locations were nothing in comparison to the amount of raw beauty contained in Konoha. It was all so different, and she was glad that she had a chance to see it.

The streets of Konoha, were so lively in the daytime. Along the sides were dozens of shops and vendors, merchants conversing with their customers; throughout the middle of the streets little children darted in between the bodies of traveling pedestrians, playing ninja and pretending to do battle. It was so much different from her home; back in Kiri, when children darted through the streets it was because they were actually living the so-called game of ninja.

It brought a smile to her face to see the little boys and girls actually having fun through the streets and not trying to kill each other, the sight actually made Haku wish she had such a childhood.

Naruto noticed the smile on her face and said, "Happy about something?" So far Naruto had taken her through many of the streets and districts of Konoha, pausing only a couple of times to point out some of his favorite shops and the historical landmarks of the village. One monument that attracted Haku's attention in particular was the memorial stone near one of the training grounds; adorned on it were the many names of the shinobi who were labeled as K.I.A, killed in action.

A picture of Zabuza infiltrated her mind when she saw it, when she was told that Zabuza was alive and he was the one who killed Marlucia she was struck with a sense of relief, while at the same time she felt deep consternation and feared for what would become of Zabuza in the future. But Zabuza wasn't the topic at the moment and he would not be for a long time. In her mind she had already decided that she wasn't Zabuza's subordinate anymore.

She was Naruto's.

"In fact I am happy about something," she began, " I-I'm just glad that I'll be able to stay here from now on... with you." Haku said those last words quickly, looking away so that Naruto would not see her blush.

Her eyes shut themselves when she heard Naruto's chuckle but they sprang back open when she felt his hand grasp hold of hers. An odd pressure formed at the joint of her shoulders and when she looked at Naruto she realized that he was pulling her through the crowd.

He turned his head back to Haku, "Come there's one place I want to show you before I take you to my secret spot; there are these two people that I want you to meet. They're like family to me."

"O-oh ok!" Haku said suddenly as she was dragged by Naruto upstream through the vast river of civilians. If not for the rate at which they were both moving, Haku would have probably felt her heart beating so hard from the sudden contact with Naruto.

After five minutes of being pulled, Naruto came to a stop in front of a small shop with a light red curtain for the entrance, above it was a polished white sign that had on it in big black letters, "Ichiraku Ramen Bar".

Haku looked at Naruto with a questioning expression, "A ramen shop?"

"Yeah, they own this shop," he said walking inside, "Hey, Ayame-chan, old man I'm back." As Naruto made contact with one of the small rotating stools, it let out a small rusty squeak. Haku mirrored his actions and took a seat down next to him.

"Ah Naruto you're back from you're mission, it's about time too, I wondering when my number one customer would come back and pay me visit, things were getting a bit slow without you here." said and elderly voice from deep within the kitchen of the ramen bar, a couple of seconds later an old man with black hair walked up to them, a smile on his face. His jovial expression switched into a curious glare when he locked his eyes onto Haku. "And who's you're friend Naruto-kun."

"This is Haku, she's... a friend of mine." Naruto stated leaning onto the long counter top, "so where's Ayame, I could have sworn that I called her name out first."

The old man chuckled. "Oh she's in the back, she was busy preparing an order when you walked in, I'll go take over for her so she can come and see you." The man turned to leave and before leaving he said to Haku, "And by the way, young lady, I'm Ichiraku Teuchi, pleased to meet you."

"It is an honor as well." Haku replied politely and with that Teuchi disappeared into the back kitchen.

As soon as he was out of sight, Haku turned to Naruto. "Um...Naruto-kun, w-who's Ayame?" Haku asked hesitantly. Her facial expression let Naruto know exactly what she was meant by asking that question.

"Don't worry, Haku-chan, she's just the old man's daughter. She's like my sister, in a way... wait why were you feeling a bit insecure?"

Haku quickly turned her head. "N-no, I wasn't, I j-just wanted to know."

"Ok, whatever you say, and you know now that I've payed attention to it, since when did you start calling me Naruto-kun?"

There was a audible squeak from Haku when he asked the question, to his delight, Haku was just as much fun to tease as Larxene was. "I-I just t-thought that you wouldn't mind, that's all." Haku said in a soft voice.

Naruto laughed and scooted a bit closer to her. "I'm just messing with you, and besides, I like it." Haku's breath quickened but quickly returned to normal as she slowly nodded.

Moments later the sounds of footsteps could be heard approaching from the back and a brown-haired girl who looked to be in her teens walked up to them. She had tied around her waist a red and black checkered apron; her slightly messy hair clung to her face while at the same time streamed behind her as she walked.

"Naruto-kun, you're back... oh, and who is this."

"I'm Haku." The quickness of Haku's response caused Ayame to raise an eyebrow.

"O...K, so Naruto, what will you and Haku be having?"

Naruto then raised his hand diffidently, "Oh I'm not having anything right now, I'll eat later."

Ayame actually gasped a this. "Uzumaki Naruto doesn't want ramen... what happened to you?" She said letting out a small giggle.

"Oh nothing, I'm just not hungry and besides I've got somewhere to go after this, I just stopped to say hello."

"Alright then, how did your mission go?"

Naruto began reciting the story of how his mission went, leaving out the more major details of the mission. Ayame may have been like family but he still couldn't let her know everything. So for some minutes Naruto sat there leaning against the bar, conversing with his sister, trading smiles and telling jokes. Haku sat silently to the side, admiring the bond that Naruto had with the older girl, it actually made her a little jealous of Ayame.

After their short conversation Naruto said his goodbyes to both Ayame and Teuchi and he and Haku left. As they left Haku could have sworn that she saw Ayame give her very discrete wink.

Now they were both back on the streets.

"Alright Haku, I think it's time I take you to that secret spot of mine."

----

Hinata was pissed as of now she was standing in the middle of the village, which was of course the Hokage tower, and to her displeasure, there was no Naruto.

_'Angel-sama, are you sure that Naruto's here?' _

_'Of course I am sure, I sensed his presence here just moments ago, but it's fading, it's getting farther away.'_

_'Well that just sucks, well can you tell me where he is?' _Hinata asked but she was broken out of her thoughts when she heard someones voice come from behind her.

"Stupid Naruto, he's such a baka, now what am I supposed to do?" Hinata turned to see blond girl standing amongst the villagers walking by, upon her shoulder was a large peregrine falcon.

"Excuse me, did you just say Naruto as in Uzumaki Naruto?" Hinata asked walking up to the girl.

"Yeah, and what of it, wait do you know him?" The blond said giving her falcon a scratch under its beak.

"You could say that I know him. Would you by any chance know where he is? I need to speak with him."

"No, I just saw him leave a little while ago, I have no idea where he is, I've got nothing to do... so if you want I could help you find him." The blond responded.

"Thanks... by the way I'm Hyuuga Hinata."

"Larxene Leones, nice to meet you." She held out her hand, which Hinata shook with a smile.

"What a peculiar name, I'm guessing that you're not from around here."

"... You could say that." With that both Hinata and Larxene walked off in search of Naruto.

----

Haku squeaked as she was nudged her forward, along the way he had asked her to close her eyes saying, "I want it to surprise you". Apparently Naruto's secret spot was just that great; a sense of giddiness ran through her body as she walked, blindfolded by Naruto's palms.

As Naruto guided her, Haku could not help but blush; he was so close to her and they actually alone. In her mind she figured that they must have given off the impression of a couple of lovestruck teenagers, sadly she was the only on of the pair that was lovestruck. If only Lar-chan could have seen her now, she would have been so jealous.

"Just a little farther, Haku-chan," Naruto said in her ear softly sending a chill down her spine.

Haku giggled slightly, "O-oh ok... Naruto-kun," but Haku suddenly froze as she felt the odd sensation of elevation, as if they had just all of a sudden gotten higher. "Naruto, where are we?"

"Don't worry we're here." Haku breath in deeply as the firm placement of Naruto's palms lessened, she felt a strong wind and the back of her head. " Alright you can open your eyes now." Naruto removed his hands and smiled when he heard Haku gasp.

Haku could not believe what she was seeing.

It was peaceful, it was so grand... it was the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen, ever. In front of her lay the entire landscape of Konoha in all it's glory. To her it appeared as flat disk, filled with the myriad of colors that were the many shops of Konoha. In the middle of it all was the bright red center piece, the structure that overlooked all, the Hokage tower. From her elevated position, it looked to be a tiny red stump in the center of the large colorful disk that was Naruto.

She turned to Naruto, "Naruto-kun... it's--"

"Beautiful, I know. That's why this is my favorite spot, whenever I need to think, this is where I come. These are the Hokage faces that we are standing on." Haku gave him a warm smile, before she did something that she never thought she could do on her own.

Naruto let out a soft grunt as Haku drove herself into his chest, wrapping her arms around him; she was hugging him. They stood there, for some seconds before Naruto said, "So didn't I tell you that you'd love it?"

"You were right... I do," Haku sniffled, Never in her life had she seen something so majestic, it brought a tear to her eyes. The sheer amount of happiness that she felt at the sight was too much for her to contain and she just had to share it. When Naruto's arms tightened around her she smiled and pulled away.

"Sorry, I-I got a little too...umph!" Warmth invaded her mouth as Naruto pulled her into a kiss. She let out a soft moan but soon submitted and let Naruto's tongue go to work, worming its way into her mouth, exploring, excavating, dominating. Closing her eyes, Haku leaned in further for an enhanced affect. This was nothing whimsical, this wasn't a buss nor was it a small peck on the lips. This was much more than that, granted that Haku had been taken back by the sudden osculation but she enjoyed it nonetheless; it felt like the first time he had kissed her.

No, this time was different, the one obvious factor that separated it from the first was that they were alone, isolated from all other intrusions... this was what her first kiss with him should have been like.

Their lips barely apart, still hanging on by a thread, barely making contact. Haku's obvious enjoyment of the moment caused her to let out a small chuckle. Naruto who's lips had yet to part with hers mirrored her actions and chuckled as well.

That felt good, from Naruto's perspective, he would have done more but decided against it and maintained his equanimity.

Haku's soft pink lips slowly retreated away from his, until they were staring at each other. Haku, who was having a difficult time sustaining her temperance let out a sigh of content, her cheeks florid and hot, and she looked down.

"W-what was that for?" She said her sanguine expression still present. In the crepuscular light of the sun, the portion of the Haku's long hair that wasn't tied away into a bun seemed to shine, making Naruto think about how pretty she looked at the moment, her face taking on a likeness of innocence.

"Nothing really, it just seemed to go with the moment." He said; his eyes then narrowed, "you know, you should stop tying your hair down into a bun, you should let it all out," he reached behind her head and loosened the tiny ribbon at the base of her bun and, like a rushing waterfall of lustrous water, her hair fell down past her shoulders before bouncing a bit and coming to a halt.

"There, that makes you look much prettier."

Haku blushed, twiddling her fingers together and going into an innocent pose, "R-really, you think so?"

Naruto pulled her closer to him, turning them both so that they both could see the beautiful Konoha before them. "Yeah, I really do..." He said giving her a firm squeeze.

"So, shall we leave?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"N-no! I mean, no, I want it to last a bit longer."

So they both stood there, admiring the beauty of Konoha, not moving for a longer period of time then the both of them had actually planned on staying. They spoke in low voices, so low that someone who was standing right next to them wouldn't be able to hear; telling jokes and speaking about random things.

It was idle post-kiss conversation that Haku was hoping was between lovers, but she wasn't so foolish as to think that Naruto would abandon Larxene for her at that moment. That is when Haku made it up in her mind, she loved the feeling Naruto gave her when he kissed her and she wanted more of it, and more importantly she wanted it to be all hers. It was official, this was competition, for Naruto's heart, and she would not lose to Larxene... Naruto would be hers, because as of right now, she was Naruto's; for him to do with her whatever he desired. In fact, the thought of Naruto actually going a bit further than kissing and getting more physically connected with her did not seem so bad.

One could say that that was what she wanted from the blond boy. Her blush deepened as she broke herself from her mental bliss, realizing that she was actually lusting for Naruto.

As time passed by they stopped standing and settled down onto the hard stone of the Hokage monument, sitting their silent and embracing each other, Haku's head resting steadily on Naruto's chest. Naruto, himself, had no problem with doing things like this with Haku, but he wondered what would happened if Larxene ever found out or vice-versa; in the worst-case scenario both girls could fight over him and sever their bond with each other, while on the other hand, he could end up with a kick-ass threesome.

Dirty thoughts, yes the sanctuary of all men, however he was taken from his thoughts when he heard Haku release a light snore, indicating that she was asleep.

When the sun began setting on the horizon and dim twilight began to settle in the air Naruto decided that it was time that they got going. Larxene, seeing as how she already knew where it was, would probably have already been in his apartment by now and it was going to be getting dark soon.

"Haku-chan, I think we should go now, its getting late." With a slight spike in her snore Hake woke up, blinking rapidly and looking at her blond crush.

"Huh..what...mmm, what did you say?"

"I said we should leave," he pointed out to the sky, "It's getting dark."

"Oh, ok fine then, let's go." Haku said, trying to stand, but when her arms would not move she had Naruto help her up.

On the way back, Naruto proposed that they use the rooftops, wanting to get home as quickly as possible and they were standing at his frront door in less then five minutes.

Reaching into his pocket and bringing out his key, Naruto opened the door, inside it was dark. Well at least Naruto knew that Larxene hadn't come back yet.

"And here it is," Naruto said clicking on the light.

The inside of Naruto's apartment, to say the least, was a little less than unattractive. It became to even more apparent to Haku as she inspected the many... faults of Naruto's apartment.

_'This place will definitely need some cleaning up.' _Haku thought as she walked inside. Politely sitting on th couch Haku said, so this is where you live?"

"Yeah, its not much, but then again I was never really given that much to work with from the start."

Naruto went into his room, his footsteps dying against the wooden floor. He returned seconds later, topless Haku quickly turned away from him muscled body, not wanting him to see the trickling blood coming from her nose.

"Oh, Haku-chan, there's something I forgot to tell you, I only have one bed...," Haku's eyes widened as she realized what Naruto was insinuating.

As if on cue, Haku turned, attempting to force a sentence out, however she stopped herself, choking on her words.

Only one bed, then that would mean only one place to sleep.

Only one place to sleep, but with three people.

There was only one conclusion... they would have to share. Although the thought of sleeping next to Naruto wasn't all that bad, Haku still felt awkward, if not, nervous about something like that. It was enough to heat her face and make her blush. Not only would she be next to Naruto, she would also be next to Larxene as well. How that would turn out, she was not sure.

But despite the inner hesitation on her part, Haku still agreed to it. Now all she had to do was present the idea to Naruto.

"Well, I guess we could share...," the words came out smoothly despite the short pause that ensued her proposal. Naruto rubbed the side of his neck.

"Yeah, I'm cool with it, but what about Larxene?"

"What about Larxene?" Both heads snapped toward the still open door and, speak of the devil, Larxene was standing there in the doorway.

"Oh nothing," Naruto began,Larxene herself did not look at Naruto when he spoke, rather she kept shifting from his body to his face," I was just saying that we'll have to share a bed." He paused, noticing the obvious waver in Larxene's gaze. "Hm, you like what you see don't you, Lar-chan?" He tapped one of his biceps with his thumb.

The skin around Naruto's eyes tightened as he narrowed his eyes, slowly sticking out a finger he pointed," Behind you, who's that?"

There was a squeak behind Larxene and the blond girl looked over her shoulder. Behind her a small shadowed figured shifted. "Oh her, she says that she knows you, and wanted to say something to you, what was her name?"

Naruto gave her a questioning look, walking over he glanced over Larxene's shoulder.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?"

AWKWARD.

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Well, I'm done... I guess. But hey whatever I feel better about myself. I do feel sorry that this chapter took so long to get out, but I was tending to other needs in my life....

I kind of feel like this chapter was a little broken apart, I mean I was not satisfied with it, but if this one doesn't deliver I promise that the next one will. But don't be expecting the next chapter out anytime soon, I'm probably going to be writing the third chapter for my second story, Crimson dawn: Uzumaki Naruto... so if you want an update on this stoy quickly, don't count on it.

Anyway, I realy don't have that much to say now, I guess that I'm going to end it here.

BUT FIRST: **aLERT!: i MUST GET REVIEWS, YOU GUYS DID ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL WITH THE LAST CHAPTER, i GOT LIKE THIRTY REVIEWS, AND NOW, i NEED YOU GUYS TO GET ME EVEN FURTHER. RIGHT NOW i'm At three hundred and twenty-eight reviews, I hope to get to at least three hundred fourty five with the next one and if you can three-fifty, that would be awesome!**

Top five reviewers:

Icey Dragon Flame

Sir MIDNIGHT The DarkSlayer

Chronostorm

Reaper INI

CaptDutchboy

Badass... you already now the deal, I would right more but I sent this chapter out the day I came back from my hell-filled week in the appalachian mountains, they really sucked and I'm, really sleepy.

Special shoutout to my loyal reader, **Weasal,** he's the man. And plus he's gonna get shit-faced in japan, that itself deserves a speacial shoutout.

Latr and thanx

Next chapter: Wake-up call

GrIm'S sTePpIn OuT


	16. Wake up call

Yeaaah boiiii

Hey, chapter sixteen of my story, you know, all that good stuff. I'm feeling pretty good about this chapter, hopefully I'll get some good feedback. OK now, Hinata has made her appearance, finally. And I know everyone has been asking, just who is this angel... is it really and angel, or is somebody else, I even seen some guys who thought that Hinata was a jinchuuriki and had a bijuu in her. Well as outlandish as ideas like that are, they still are nowhere near to the truth. I'll go a bit more in depth with the whole angel thing and in this chap I'll be explaining and possibly revealing who... or what angel is. I might just add a little action in this, seeing as how the last two chaps have been all mushy and what not.

NOT that that's bad or anything. And who knows I might even have Xion make her appearance.... hope you guys would like that.

In any case, the rest of this will be respectably short, for I want to get to the story as soon as possible. But before I let you all go I have one more thing to say.

Recently I have discovered something that has the power to change the world. It is an age old question that has left humans pondering over their existence for decades.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? That's right, they said the world would never know, but that was a lie. I know.

How many, you ask... well I'll tell you that it takes a total of 211 consecutive licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The universal question has been answered and all the inhabitants of the universe can be at ease; meaning has been brought back into our lives once again.

Thank you, thank you... it was nothing, well actually it was something. No, I mean like really something! 211 consecutive licks...damn, my tongue was numb after that! Tongue what tongue?

Anyway I bring you the story.

Enjoy mutha fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

A boy, a girl, and their Angel?

He woke up with an unfamiliar pressure weighing down on his body. Naruto could neither feel his arms nor his legs. Blinking a couple times he confirmed the obvious.

Ok, so he was still in his room, that was good right? Still groggy from the after effects of sleep, he opened his mouth, releasing a long yawn. Alright now that that was over he had to figure out just what the hell was on him.

He tried to move his arm. Well that was a failure. He attempted to move his other arm as well and like the last arm movement test, he failed it. That was alright, he could still move his legs right?

Experimentally, he moved each of his legs, wiggling them around in succession. That was odd, there was something else on his legs, both of them. He knew that he should have looked down, but didn't bother. It felt as though there were several other legs intertwined with his own.

Slowly--due to his sleepiness-- but surely his mind was coming onto the conclusion of what was happening ALL around.

He looked to his right and saw a suspicious mop of long dark brown hair. Most of it messy and sprawled out on his bare chest like dozens of little snakes. Wait was that her head on his chest? That confirmed it, he knew exactly what that weight on his body was but just to be sure....

Naruto turned his head to the left and as expected, there was small unruly section of blond hair on his left bicep.

Now everything made sense; even through the veil of sleep Naruto could clearly see that Both Larxene and Haku had their heads... seemingly attached to his chest.

He let out a sigh and smiled, oh life was good. But there still was one thing that had almost overlooked.

He still could not move his arms... yeah. And oh! What was this?

Lower, towards his abdomen he felt something, there was a third person. Inching his head up ever so slowly as to not wake up the two sleeping girls on his side, Naruto just barely peered at his waist. There he saw another mop, more like helmet, of dark-indigo hair.

"Who the hell is-," but he stopped, trying to recall what happened the night before. He couldn't quite remember it clearly but yesterday he could have sworn that there was someone else in his house. A light bulb went off in his mind as his eyebrows rose and he snapped his fingers... well mentally snapped that is.

"Hinata," he whispered lightly, ever so aware of his volume. There Hinata lay, curled up in a little ball, snuggling with... his pelvis, whoa she was getting a little bit too close for comfort and was she laying on top of him? Trying to recall the events of last night, his gaze angled itself back to the ceiling.

All Naruto recalled was Hinata showing up with Larxene, right as he was about to go to bed. He glanced behind Larxene asking who it was behind her. That was he saw Hinata.

_'What was it that she did after that?' _Thought trying to remember. Another light bulb.

_'Oh! That's right, I tapped her and ... she.... fainted,"_ Naruto finished of lamely in his head. As innocent as it may have been, Hinata's shyness was also troublesome. He remembered how annoyed he was when trying to wake her up after she had fainted. After giving her face a couple of futile slaps he gave up and announced that he was going to sleep.

And now he was here. If what he was thinking was correct, after he had gone to sleep, everyone else, unfortunately for him had crawled in afterward. Although having three girls on top of him throughout the night did not seem like a bad idea he still could not handle the consequences of having no feeling in his arms every morning.

Naruto knew that there was one thing that he needed. More space, that would definitely help him and his arms out. So slowly he slipped from underneath each of the three girls on top of him, each one of them making their own distinctive grunts and groans in response to his movement. Finally freeing himself, he swung both feet onto the floor, releasing a soft sigh.

His arms hurt, well at least he thought they hurt. As of now the only feeling Naruto could recognize in his arms was the prickly pins and needles sensation that ran through his arms. The feeling was odd, it felt to him as if his hands were both hot and cold at the same. But feeling two diverging temperatures simultaneously and in the same location was impossible, right?

Apparently not.

He dipped his head down; as a light breeze flowed through his open window he allowed the cooling sensation to run of his neck. He could, outside his window, the myriad of small chirps made by little birds gamboling in the air next to his window. The sounds were peaceful, natural, uninterrupted... well they would have stayed like that if the piercing sound of a falcon had not broken the silence.

"It's that overprotective falcon again," Naruto said right as Tomo came swooping down and landed on his windowsill. There she stood, perched on the wooden sill drilling her glare into Naruto. He didn't look away, instead he simply stood up and scoffed.

"Humph, what, are you trying to scare me?" A high pitched chirp was the response he got. He grimaced, he had been around Haku too much. Now he was talking to the damn bird as well? Even though he didn't really understand Tomo he somehow knew that she was saying 'yes'.

Talking with Tomo could wait, however, as of now he had something that he needed to discuss with a certain Hokage that regarded getting a little more room to himself. His feet hit the ground silently as he fluttered past his sleeping... 'roommates' but along the way he froze, his leg still hanging in the air ready to take the next step.

His gaze drifted ever so slightly to Hinata, who apparently had taken off her jacket and used it to cover herself. There was something odd about her. It wasn't that looking at the sleeping form of an otherwise pretty girl was nice and all, it was just that this girl had something. Something emanating from her, like an fey aura radiating off her petite frame.

He felt attracted to it while at the same time, opposed to even come close to it. A wave of nausea crept over him and he felt a familiar buzz in the back of his head.

**"Naruto-kun, there is something wrong with that girl." **Kyuubi's voice suddenly sprang forth from the depths of his mind, it almost surprised him but by now he was used to it. Crossing his arms over his bare chest, he narrowed his eyes.

'_Yeah I feel it too.' _Naruto responded through their link. Whatever quiddity that Hinata may have possessed, it certainly was not indiscernible. In fact to Naruto it felt as if it came abundantly. One would have to be either a villager or completely feckless as a nin to not feel this. The presence coming from Hinata was... terribly overpowering.

He wondered why Larxene nor Haku had not noticed the obviously prominent energy source coming from Hinata. He needed answers. _'Zen, what do think of this, you can feel it right?' _There was no answer... there was nothing. _'Zen...Zen?'_ Naruto asked again._ 'Zen, you're part of me, I know you're there so st-,' _He was cut off.

"_Of course I fucking feel that, what did you think that I was COMPLETELY oblivious or something_!?" Zen's sudden outburst had surprised Naruto, well surprised him enough to get the boy to widen his eyes. Just what the hell was he mad about?

_'Well how about next time you answer me when I ask you something?' _Naruto snapped back.

"_Sorry about that, I don't know why but for some reason, when we were hit by that wave of whatever it is coming from that girl I suddenly felt enraged. I felt like I wanted to... to kill something." _

Naruto raised an eyebrow, now that was bizarre. Naruto felt nauseous from it and Zen felt angry because of it. Even with all of the collaborating emotions pooling together inside him, he still wanted one question answered. Why the hell couldn't Haku and Larxene, who were right next to her, feel Hinata's terrible presence.

Someone really needed to answer that question. Who the person was that answered it, he did not care, all he needed was the answer. But Naruto's mind was not slow in the least bit, he was intelligent, he possessed more intellect than most. He could think for himself.

Slowly he inched over to Hinata, his footsteps quieter than they had ever been. There as something that told him to stay, that might have been Zen in the background of his mind yelling for him not to stay away, however, he knew that it wasn't his other half that was telling him to stay away, there was something else.

Some strange premonition telling him two simple words: "stay away". But still he was drawn in, despite his gut feeling queasy; he was attracted to her like a magnet. Not sexually, but physically as in he couldn't stop himself from reaching out a touching her. His body and mind were wrapped around and immured in a wall of undertow, drawing him closer to the sleeping Hyuuga.

He should have stopped and turned but he didn't, he kept going. Naruto had seemingly lost all self control at that moment, no, he still had some but it was only a scintilla. As long as he had some self control he would NOT allow his body to be controlled, he would NOT abnegate himself to whatever force was propelling his arm forward to Hinata's face.

Mustering up all the will power he had, he stopped his hand... a few inches from Hinata's face. Yes, he had won. Relief washed through him and he released his breath. Had he been holding it this entire time?

That was odd, he had not noticed it. His hand hovering directly over Hinata's face he stood there. Another wave of nauseous... whatever that stuff was flowed over him, and the hortatory notion of touching her face and discovering just what that was coming from her became all the more tantalizing.

"Aw, fuck it." He whispered, pushing his hand the remaining few inches and lightly touching Hinata's cheek. What happened next, was what Naruto had not expected.

A jolt... wait a jolt? Yes, a jolt; small shock ran up his fingertips all the way to his spine, sending shivers throughout his entire body. "What the hell was that," Naruto whispered to himself as he suddenly retracted his entire arm away from Hinata. It felt to him like a jolt of electricity had just made it's way through his body.

Did Hinata have electricity running through her or something? That was weird, and what was even weirder was that he felt inclined to do it again. So he did; he reached out yet again, this time knowing exactly what would happen and touched her once again.

The results were the same and he once again felt the sudden jolt of electricity running through his arm. This time Naruto did not pull back, instead he rubbed his fingertips along her face all the way down to her neck until he got to her slightly exposed collar bone and stopped, pulling his hand back, so that his fingers hovered slightly above her neck.

This was some weird shit!

No sooner did he realize that than his eyes cracked open. He had a plan, well it was more like a test. He gaze turned onto Larxene and Haku. His mind had already come up with a theory as to why Hinata was over here shocking people, now all he needed to do was test it out. Slowly he reached and rubbed his other hand across both their legs, they both let out little groans, well actually Haku giggled. What was she dreaming about? And come to think of it, Haku looked pretty nice with less on, they both did, take off the battle outfits and you had something to work with.

But still, putting all perverted thoughts aside, it was as Naruto thought. Nothing happened, When he touched them he felt not a thing, not even a little buzz in his arm. By the way they were all laying on top of him Hinata certainly was in physical contact with the both of them, yet Larxene and Haku both seemed unaffected. They showed more responsiveness when he touched, rather then Hinata which leading his mind to the one conclusion as to why he was they weren't affected by Hinata's terrible aura

Was he the only one able to feel Hinata's presence? He thought to himself that yes, yes he was the only person who could feel it. They could not sense it because, they were completely unable to do it. This sensation was being directed at him!

What could possibly be coming from Hinata that attracted him so greatly? He didn't know but what he did know was that there was an sound coming from below him, like... someone clearing their throat. He froze; calm, strong eyes bore into him and he quickly jumped away. Well, at least she was awake now.

"I-It's not what it looks like." Naruto said throwing up his hands in his defense. Standing up, Hinata closed her eyes as if annoyed by his action, although it wasn't like she could say anything; Naruto woke up with her on top of him it was only fair that he returned the favor.

... Not that he WAS returning the favor or anything like that.

Hinata hadn't opened her eyes for at least, fifteen seconds now, that same irresistible force coming from her. Feeling a little awkward, decided that it was time for him to break the silence, and plus he still needed to those answers.

"Hinata, can I ask you something?" As if on cue Hinata's pale lavender eyes snapped open, her expression neither happy nor mad, just neutral. Her quick reaction did no better than to creep Naruto out. She opened her mouth.

"Yes you may." She said quickly and calmly. That was odd, was this the same Hinata he had seen back in the academy? The same one who would always be alone, the quiet one? Definitely not. Her tone seemed slightly more highhanded, as if she was letting him ask her a question, he hoped she didn't think that it was a privilege for him to ask her a question, then she'd be just like all the other stick up the ass Hyuuga.

"OK then I'll keep this concise, why did you come here?" He stared at her long and hard for some seconds but she did not say a word nor did her eyes ever leave his. It was actually starting to make him a little uneasy. "Uhh, okay I guess you didn't hear me, I'll ask again then. Why-"

He was cut off when Hinata raised her hand in a lofty manner. It was one of those motions that just screamed-"be silent peasant!"- and Naruto was not sure how he felt about Hyuuga Hinata, the shy girl, promptly silencing him in such a grandiloquent manner. Nevertheless, the force that she was still emanating kept him quiet, waiting for the once thought shy Hyuuga to speak again.

"I am not Hinata." She said. What, did she just say that? Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him, or maybe he was hearing things, or maybe Hinata had gone crazy. This all too random. First she shows up in his house out of the blue, then she faints and somehow crawls into bed with him, not that he had a problem with it, now she was saying that she wasn't Hinata when she so CLEARLY Hyuuga Hinata!

"What the hell are you ta-" Another one of those strong raises of her hand silenced Naruto.

"True, that the body that I am inhabiting is that of a certain Hyuuga Hinata, however, I myself am not Hyuuga Hinata." She said. That was a surprise, so the strange power source coming from Hinata wasn't actually coming from her it was actually coming from within her. Looks like he wasn't the only person with more than one soul in their body, although he had not expected Hinata of all people to be like him.

But that didn't matter, who ever said that whatever it was inside Hinata was even friendly. Taking a step back, Naruto flashed his geostigma on.

"Who the hell are you?" He said in a low whisper, he didn't want Larxene or Haku waking up and drawing any attention to themselves, after all he had no clue as to how dangerous this... thing inside of Hinata was.

"That would be unwise, for I already know the outcome of a battle between you and I... if it were to happen.

This was bad, he was unarmed, unaware of the enemy's potential, partially undressed and as of now two of his comrades were asleep and _behind _the potential opponent. The odds of him actually fighting without causing a massive pother in his area were highly unlikely. It would be better to just handle things calmly and avoid any physical confrontation.

The tension disappeared as Naruto relaxed his shoulders and stood completely straight. "I'll ask again, who are you and what have you done with the girl who's body you are controlling."

"Let me assure you that she is fine, I did not possess her body I am only in a state of temporary synchronization with her. And if you want to know who I am, I suggest that you follow me." Hinata stood up, and slipped on her family robe, now she looked like a stick up the ass Hyuuga. Curving one finger ever so slight as to signal him to follow her, Hinata made her way to the window and opened it.

"Alright fine, but wait let me get a shirt on or something." Perhaps while he was rummaging around in his closet he could find a way to sneak the scrolls for his spitfire gauntlets in his pockets.

"No you may not, just follow." Hinata said quickly. What, was this thing inside Hinata a mind reader or something? Did it know, that he wanted to get his gauntlets?

"Wait, why not?" Naruto said.

"Because, I already know what you will do once you "get a shirt or something", it is only a futile attempt to acquire some form of weaponry. So no, you can't go, just follow and besides," She paused giving Hinata's body, or her own body, a good look up and down," Hinata here, seems to be enjoying seeing you in your current state."

"Alright fine, but...huh, wait! What do you mean Hinata seems to enjoy my current state?" Then he remembered, he was topless, he had almost forgotten that he was. "Whatever,' he said jamming his pockets, following Hinata out the window.

He wrapped his arms around himself and released a shudder. Damn, it sure was cold this morning, now he really wanted a shirt.

----

Naruto, foot hit the branch of a tree, hard. Quickly before the branch gave under his weight he sprung himself forth onto the next one, in rapid succession he threw himself from tree to tree every few seconds Hinata would fly out of his vision only for her to fly right back in. He traveled fast and silently, as a ninja should be when tree hopping.

What the hell was this? Hinata had brought him out past the gates of Konoha where they had still both been traveling up until now. His skin was covered in goosebumps from the bitter cold of the morning and he he had to be extra careful not to scratch himself against any "pointy" branches that were just waiting to take a stab at his bare skin.

He called out to Hinata in front of him. "Hey, just where the hell are we going?" His voice a little bit more than a susurrus under the howl of rushing wind. As low as his voice was she still heard him. Hinata turned her head in mid-air, the small tufts of hair shifting back and forth due to the forceful wind their traveling speed was creating. She heard him alright, but she sure didn't respond to his question. All she did was give him that same neutral expression that she had been giving him this entire time and somehow, it told him to shut the hell up.

She sure looked like Hinata, but no that was not her at all, it may have been the body of the young Hyuuga heiress but it sure wasn't the mind, well at least not fully. And speaking of bodies, Hinata's wasn't all that bad at all. He had never noticed it but without that heavy jacket, Hinata actually looked... nice. That tight black top of hers accentuated her body pretty nicely. Who would have thought that the simple task of of removing an accessory piece of clothing could draw so much attention to a person, he certainly was paying attention.

Then he though about it, maybe this was what everyone in class felt like when he finally got rid of that orange deathtrap. Hinata's Hyuuga family robe fluttered in the wind fiercely, a mad dance of fine linen and air, almost cape like. To and fro it fluttered and every once in a while it would flutter up and away from her body, giving Naruto a view of her delicate frame.

After Naruto had attempted to speak with her once and she so brutally denied him, he didn't try speaking with Hinata again. For most part he didn't care about the mutual silence between them, it was too cold to care, right now he needed to think to himself. As Naruto hit the branch of a tree, without even taking a glance down Naruto thrust himself forth to the next set of branches.

Traveling amongst the trees had become like second nature to him, it was easy, the branches just seemed to appear beneath him as if they were destined to be stepped on.

_'Kyuubi do you have, any idea as to what this thing is inside of Hinata?' _

Kyuubi growled, **"I think I might know. For some reason the bizarre force that this girl is giving off, I feel at peace with it, like I know from somewhere."** Kyuubi let his voice trail off with a low hum coming from within his massive chest.

Another voice came. _"Are you serious, you fuzzball? How can this feeling be in the least bit... peaceful? It's not peaceful at all, it's enraging!" _Zen yelled his words, letting them flow freely from his mouth with rage. Was this force truly making Zen angry was Zen angry at the actual source. If Zen was angry at the source than that would mean, that he knew something about it, right?

He needed, to question Zen on that, however, he was beaten to punch when Zen opened his mouth again. _"No, Naruto, I don't know anything about it either, I just know that whatever this being is... I DON'T like it.' _

Something was definitely up. Kyuubi felt at peace while at the same time Zen felt enraged. Two conflicting emotions swirling around in his mind and body, right now all he felt was nauseous.

Eventually the treeline split, giving way to an expanse of grass and gravel. Where the both of them landed. Off to his right, there was the opening of a cave, nothing could be seen in it, all there was was just darkness. He hoped that he wouldn't have to step in there, at least not with a damn shirt.

Hinata stood with her back to Naruto, silently. Naruto would have said something but he knew what that outcome would be if he tried talking again. She turned, facing him. "Namikaze Naruto." She began. Naruto stood straight, waiting for to finally divulge the secret as to who the hell she was and why the hell she had brought him out here.

_'Wait, did she just say, Namikaze? It knows who I am?' _

"Before I tell you anything else I would like to test, I want to know... are you worthy?" Hinata's tiny finger pointed itself at Naruto. He folded his arms.

"And how do you plan to do that?" He asked, the gravel shifting beneath his feet as his tensed his legs, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"A duel." That was it, she said a duel, now he had the had to ok. No more questions no more talking, now was a time for action. Although he would feel bad for fighting against Hinata.

Despite, his albatross(not the bird, it also means a moral burden) Naruto's actions were not impeded for his body cut through the air like an arrow. When he was only a mere two feet from Hinata, he cocked his arm back and struck. Surprisingly, Hinata dodged, taking a quick sidestep to the right before extending an open palm strike to his ribcage.

Although Naruto wasn't the most knowledgeable when it came to taijutsu, he was well aware of the Hyuuga family's Jyuuken style and he knew what would happen if he were to get hit by the attack.

Hinata's palm missed by a fraction twisted his body into roundhouse aim at her head.

She ducked low, however, she kept her arm extended and latched onto Naruto's leg. Naruto's eyes widened as a palm approached his chest and he was sent flying back. The world spun as he was sent into a backward roll where he finally stopped using the momentum to get back in his feet.

"Shit that hurt." Rolling in gravel wasn't something that he was used to, it was something he could never get used to. He heard the whistle of wind above him and he raised his head, Hinata's two fingers just barely two inches from his face, however she moved them instead and brought him to the ground with full body tackle. Naruto released a loud grunt, that one had hurt a lot.

OK, that wasn't gravel, that one was a rock. As of now Hinata, sat on top of him, two fingers pointed directly at his neck, specifically the chakra point near his jugular artery. Even though it was only for a split second, Naruto saw death in those two fingers.

Was this Hinata's power, or was it this thing inside of her that was this powerful? If it was the being in her, then he had something to worry about, however, if this was what Hinata was capable of... then he was liked it. That's right, he was slightly aroused.

He stared into her impassive expression for a couple of seconds before he noticed something. "A-are you blushing?" It was true, Hinata's entire face was beet red, like heated coals in a fire.

"No, I am not blushing, however, Hinata is. This position we are in at moment is causing Hinata's reaction. I told you once before, our minds are synchronized, however I am inhabiting her body, therefore I have no control over any involuntary actions carried out by her body. But just so that you are aware, as of now, her body's heart rate seems to be increased along with higher levels of perspiration and estrogen resulting in an increased libido. I hope you know what that means"

Naruto's eyebrow raised. Did she it just tell him that Hinata was horny? Was this thing trying to fight him, or hook him up with Hinata?

"Anyway," Hinata said removing her fingers from his neck, her blush still discernible. "When I said a duel I did not mean a duel between me and you." Well she could have told him earlier.

"Well who else would it be between, we're the only ones he-" he paused, his turning his head to the side; looking a cluster of trees his narrowed his eyes as a figure stood up from them. Hinata herself looked in that direction as well. He was so engrossed with what was happening, he did not noticed the other presence.

Hinata clapped her hands twice. "Xion, you may reveal yourself now."

"Who, Xion?" Naruto said as he saw a girl walk out from the bush. Seconds later, she walked up to him and he was staring at her legs which were wrapped in a black skin tight material, leather perhaps. He brought his gaze up to her face. The first he noticed was her bright red hair, which shined like burnished metal. The color reminded him of Kyuubi's hair, only it was a bit lighter.

Her skin was pale and flawless, a polished gem for a face with two ruby red eyes in the middle. She was truly beautiful, not to mention that she had a pretty nice body as well. The girl, Xion if Naruto remembered clearly, turned her gaze to Hinata who by the way was still on top of him and dropped to one knee.

"This Naruto, is Xion, she's one of my subordinates... she shall be your opponent."

"Oh, really," Naruto began, well can you tell me one thing?"

Hinata's brow went into a upward arch. He would yell this one out. "Who the hell ar---umph!" Hinata's palm clasped tightly over his mouth, reducing his would be yell into nothing more than a muffle.

"You were just about to ask me my name, were you not?" Naruto's eyes widened. Now how the hell did she know that he was going to say that, was this thing inside Hinata a mind reader or something? His mouth still sealed off by Hinata's palm, Naruto only shook his head and gave her a quick "umm hmm".

"Well, seeing as how you will eventually know this, then I'll tell you." She pointed to her own face, "Hinata here, knows me as Angel but you may address me as Kinkou, I think your friend Kyuubi knows very well who I am." Amused was the word that could describe Hinata's smile, the fact Naruto's eyes were about twice as large as they normally were was enough to bring a small smile to the semi possessed Hyuuga's face.

"W-wha... wait, Kinkou as in the demon?"

"Exactly." She said quickly.

For a quick second, Naruto retracted back into his thoughts in order to contact Kyuubi. _'Kyuubi are you reading this?" _

There was silence at first. **"So that was why I felt so nostalgic, that sensation was Kinkou's chakra." **After that Kyuubi was silent, retreating back to his own introspective thoughts.

Naruto's eyes popped open yet again with yet another realization. Zen, his anger, it was Kinkou's fault, no wonder he had felt so nauseous before. He had almost forgotten that Zen was a manifestation of Konton's chakra coming into contact with Kyuubi's, so it was only natural that felt so angry when faced against Kinkou's chakra, for Kinkou's chakra alone was completely the opposite of Zen's very existence.

But how did Kinkou even get here, and why Hinata. Oh so many questions to be asked, however, no was not the time to be asking anything.

Xion's voice cut through the silence that had been allowed to build up like shuriken through paper. "Kinkou-sama, may I begin the match?"

Hinata nodded, small strands of her hair moving with the rapid motion. "Yes you may." Naruto released a grateful sigh when Hinata... ah Kinkou rose up and stepped back. Naruto propped himself up on his elbows, ignoring the pain of gravel in his skin, and took a look at Xion, who was still kneeling on the ground.

"Naruto, here is you test, fight Xion. She may be young but she is very competent and should be somewhere along your level. Don't get too carried away now, it should be a light match, the first one unable to stand loses." Naruto looked her up and down. How young was she anyway, she looked to be around his age may a year older. While inspecting, his eyes locked onto to the black sheath of a tanto strapped behind her waist, below it was the handle of another. OK now he knew that she had two weapons, particularly short weapons but weapons nonetheless. His eyes then drifted up back to her face, oh what a beautiful face.

Her ruby eyes looking into to him, he could tell that she was determined. It reminded him of the look Larxene first gave him when she randomly showed up at his door, back then her eyes held the same beauty and power and they still did.

His lips curled as a smile hit his face, maybe he could extract from her the same reaction that he always got from Larxene. "You know," He said, inching up even further so that he was sitting up, " you're kind of cute."

Air was driven from his lungs as he was suddenly pushed back down, his back hitting the uncomfortable gravel yet again. If a demon ever told him not to follow him without a shirt... he would so not listen, those fucking pebbles hurt like a bitch. He looked down, there was a boot on his chest and it didn't feel as nice as the movies made it seem. Wait, were those heels she was wearing.

Xion crouched down, digging the heel, yeah they were heels, of her boot into Naruto's chest. He flinched. Well, her reaction was similar to what Larxene would have done... except there was one thing different that made her reaction the complete opposite of Larxene's.

She was smiling... what no embarrassed blush, no heated facial expression? This girl sure was lewd. "Thanks, you're pretty cute yourself," a counter complement, definitely not what Larxene or even Haku would have done. "But," Naruto flinched yet again as she quickly drew one of her tanto and the end of the dagger-like blade was pointed at his throat, " right now isn't the time to be complementing each other on our looks, but if you want we can do that later." She then gave him a flirtatious wink, that certainly wasn't something Larxene would have done.

"Right now we fight!"

The uncomfortable pressure was lifted when Xion raised her leg... above her head! With seemingly in human flexibility she brought it down.

"I don't think so," Naruto said as he grabbed her leg before it made contact with his face. In an instant his leg was raised and in between hers, he brought it down and now they were both on the ground. He sprung up, releasing his grip on her leg and aim a kick at her side. The bright steel of a tanto flashed and he withdrew before she had a chance to stab his leg.

He stumbled back, thrown off balance by then Xion was already up, her second tanto drawn. Immediately Naruto was on the defensive, ducking and dodging Xion's barrage of slashes. He saw an opening, on her right, where her arm was extended a bit too far; he took the chance and instantly grasped her arm. Taking a step in, Naruto knocked her back with an elbow to the chest.

"Is that the best you have to offer?"

"Hell no!"

"It better not be!" Naruto said before he disappeared. There was a howl of wind, when Xion ducked Naruto's leg just barely passing over her head. Her hair swayed with the direction of his kick. Twirling her tanto so that the blades where pointing behind her, she stepped back and attempted to stab Naruto who she thought was behind her. However, the fact that her blades hit noting but air told her otherwise.

Naruto was high in the air, he reached down his left leg and grimaced from the lack of a shuriken holster."Shit!"

Normally his holster would be there so it had become like instinct to reach down there whenever he wanted to put distance between him and his enemy, however due to certain complications, he was without one. He would have to defy instinct and fight without one.

There were two flashes of steel, Xion was on the move again. She flew through the air, an arrow, the blades of her two tanto crossed in an 'X'.

"Damn it!" Well, as of now he was a sitting duck or was it a flying duck seeing as how he was in the air. Tucking his legs into his chest, Naruto was sent spinning backwards as Xion's crossed blades sliced through the skin of his forearms. It felt like someone had placed two pieces of red hot iron across his skin, the pain was astounding, it was unnatural. Two slashes on his arms shouldn't have brought him so much pain, those were not regular tanto.

He grunted as he released his knees and allowed his arms to stretch out. The world was spinning until it came to a stop when he feet hit the ground. His head immediately sprang up, searching for Xion.

She was still in the air... now the tables were turned, she was the duck, he was the predator. His arms hurt like crazy, the pain-inducing burn in his flesh prominent, it was ok though, they would heal soon.

Orange encircled his pupils; he activated his geostigma quickly, he would have to do this quickly if he wanted this work. With a mighty grunt, Naruto heaved his palms forth, casting forth two blast of air in Xion's direction. Hinata visibly tensed, leaning in a bit, having seen Naruto use his Kekkei Genkai.

Just as Xion was about to touch the ground the waves of air connected, knocking her back into a tree where she stuck to it for a few seconds. A groan of pain escaped her lips, it was then followed by a grunt when Naruto's palm hit her stomach, sending her through the tree with another surge of air.

He spat on the ground before gracefully leaping through the air in Xion's direction. "I'll finish this now!" His shadow cast itself over Xion's now vertical body before he landed on top of her, driving his knee into her stomach until they collided with the ground. When he plopped down on top of her she released a yell of pain.

"You know, those two slashes you gave me hurt quite a bit but," he raised his arms showing her where she had cut him, "sadly it was of no use." Her eyes widened, there was nothing there, two bad gashes had been replaced by untouched skin. How the hell did he do that? Anger welled in her and she punched Naruto in the face.

He didn't move, however. "That won't work, I can take a lot more pain than you can dish out!" His head recoiled back as he was punched two more times. "Hah, give up!" He yelled.

She turned her head, searching for her tantos, which she had dropped when she hit that tree, by now they were probably couple meters away from her now.

Kinkou smiled through Hinata's lips. Now this was an interesting way to win a duel, force the enemy to submit.

Naruto flicked both hands to the side; his geostigma still active. The seemed to open as the gravel wrapped around Xion's arms and pulled them down, solidifying into solid rock. "Now your arms are trapped, will you give up now, you won't be able to use any jutsu seeing as how your arms are constricted. Will you give up now?"

"No!" Naruto sighed and chuckled.

"You know, you really are cute, especially when you're all rebellious like that."

"Shut up." Naruto chuckled again, giving Xion just enough of an opening for her to spring her legs up and knock Naruto off her. Tucking into a roll Naruto regained hit footing and now stood at Xion's head. He crouched placing his hand above her face.

"I'll tell you once more, give up." She shook her head which caused Naruto to sigh. She certainly was just as stubborn as Larxene. "Fine," He said then I guess that I'll have to do this." Xion's eyes widened when Naruto placed both palms on the sides of her temples, his fingers glowing slightly.

She pursed her lips together for she suddenly felt the urge to say speak. She couldn't control it, he could however. "Now say it." Her lips opened slowly, against her will and she began pronouncing the words.

"I-I g-give up." And like that her hands were free, her lips back under her control. Naruto stood up, wiping his hands free of dust.

"Ah, there we go, now that wasn't so hard was it?" Naruto chuckled but stopped when he felt another presence beside him. Hinata stood there, smiling, her hands placed behind her back. She had a pretty nice smile.

"That's enough Naruto, I'd say that you've won this duel."

Xion was back on her feet, her teeth clenched with the bitter sting of defeat. "W-what was that technique you used on me?"

"Just a little trick of mine I'll fill you in on the details later," He gave her a dismissive wave, which she grumbled at. He gaze turned back to Hinata. "So, what now, I've won your duel, so am I worthy or not?"

"Oh, I think that you'll do very nicely, you're not the best but you're adequate." Naruto crossed his arms at that. Adequate? That's _all_ that he was, just adequate. Well considering that Kinkou was a demon then adequate must have been pretty good on human standards. Hinata waved her hand toward herself. "Follow me." she said.

Damn, did this mean more traveling, then what, another test? Hinata led Naruto, along with Xion back to the same clearing of grass and gravel where they stood before. She turned and looked at them both. "Xion, be sure to not let Naruto land to hard."

Naruto raised his brow. How could he land when he was already on the floor? He opened his mouth to ask the question but stopped when Hinata jammed her hands together making a ram seal.

The world went rushing up as the ground below them gave way and collapsed beneath their feet, sending them down into a violent dive underground. "What the hell is this!" Naruto yelled; glancing at Hinata he saw that the girl had retained all equanimity and simply stood in the air as she had when they were above ground. Xion, as well, did not seem to be affected by the sudden drop. They must have been used to this.

Naruto, on the other hand was nearly upside down, his legs flailing wildly. By the looks of it this hole was man made, and it had been around for a while. Below him, a yellow tinge of light became visible and he could now see the ground. "Oh, fuuuuck!" He wasn't prepared, his face would hit the ground and he would end up a splattered mess.

Seconds before he hit the ground he felt someone's hand wrap around his ankle, the ground approached and just as his face collided with it... he stopped inches away from the dirt.

"Good catch Xion." Hinata said.

"Thank you Kinkou-sama." Xion said dropping Naruto on his face. He came to realize something, dirt did not taste good, it tasted even worse when it was dirt that was underground.

He stood and dusted himself off. The taste of dirt still lingered on his taste buds. "Hina- ah... Kinkou," He was cut off by Xion slapping his head.

"It's Kinkou-sama!" She said.

He sighed, but nevertheless he continued, wouldn't want to offend the powerful demon now would he? "Yeah, uh right... Kinkou-...sama, just where are..." Naruto paused, "we..." he finished off lamely.

In front of him was a torch-lit tunnel, by the looks of it, the thing went on for miles. But Naruto knew that he was just exaggerating things, it could not be that long.

He thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Hinata's acutely feminine voice. "Well, come on, let's not waste anymore time." She said as she began walking down the tunnel.

----

Larxene sighed as she zipped up her jacket, she glanced down at it and then zipped it back down. She couldn't wear this thing anymore, it just did not feel right, she was not a part of the Saiki anymore. In her mind she could care less about that organization, its not like they gave a damn about her. Well that excluded her brother of course.

She slipped it off and the black jacket hit the bed and she stared at it long and hard. That thing did not belong with her anymore, she needed something new. Considering that her test to be ranked as a Konoha kunoichi would be tomorrow she had a little bit of time. Maybe she could ask Naruto to show her some of the clothing shops that he went to, if he even came back that if.

Just where the hell was he, when she woke up it was just her and Haku on one bed. Hinata had even left, perhaps with Naruto, hopefully not. She didn't need another rival when it came to Naruto.

Behind her a door opened and in came Haku, her body wrapped in the white threads of a towel. Her hair was out, slicked down and wet with water that was still present. The brown haired girl gave Larxene a quick glance before shaking her head, her dark brown locks swaying back and forth.

Larxene saw this and took the moment to feel her own hair; she pulled down one of the two horn-like strands of hair that constantly stayed suspended above her head and examined it. Then she wondered to herself, did Naruto like brunettes better or maybe he liked girls with longer hair? Hopefully she was wrong.

Haku glided past Larxene with the practiced grace of a killer, she stopped by the open window, where Tomo perched herself. She gave the bird two scratches underneath the beak before smoothly spinning around, facing Larxene. A shiver of delight was sent down her spine as a cool morning breeze hit her back.

"Ah, it's such a wonderful morning."

Larxene eyed her carefully. Well she certainly was in good mood today. "And what are you so happy about?" Larxene said, folding her arms. Haku giggled, a sound that Larxene had been hearing a lot lately. "W-what's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," Haku said, removing the towel from her body which she then brought up to dry her hair.

"Hm, liar you're happy about something and I want to know what." Larxene sat down on the bed, crossing her legs. "So tell me."

"I said it's nothing." Haku said, yet again smothering her face with the towel.

"Nothing my ass, tell me."

"Drop it." Haku said suddenly.

"Fine..." Larxene looked off to the side. Haku was in a great mood and Larxene had feeling that one question would get her to reveal why. She took a deep breath. "S-so, uh yesterday, what did you and Naruto d-do?"

Haku paused, removing the towel from her face, a smile on her face. "Oh? Wouldn't you like to know." Haku said letting another giggle escape her.

"W-Well yeah, I would like to know," she paused, "n-not that I care or anything, I... just want to know, that's all..." Larxene looked down at the floor, hiding her blush.

"Oh we did a little bit of this and a little bit of that." Haku responded. Just what the hell was that supposed to mean, 'this' and 'that' could mean a lot. That answer would not suffice, she needed more to truly feel secure.

"L-like what?" Larxene asked almost immediately after Haku finished. Larxene didn't like the smile Haku was giving her, she knew why she had asked, she was just enjoying this.

"Well you would know if you had come with us." Alright, Larxene had had enough of Haku's obvious attempts to keep the conversation of the main topic.

"Well, I was busy, so are you going to tell me or not?" Larxene asked.

Haku, brought one finger down to her mouth, her other hand keeping the towel on her head, and with a cute wink simply said, "Not."

Haku took two steps back as Larxene had stood up. "Why not?"

"Well why do you want to know?" Haku asked innocently. Damn, she had hoped that Haku would not ask that question but she really couldn't expect more from the girl. Haku after all, was insanely adept at drawing out other people's true emotions, she had to learn that the hard way. But if there was one word that could describe Larxene, it would definitely be headstrong. Of course Larxene wouldn't abnegate and make it that easy for Haku.

"I want to know because.... I just want to know." It was a bit childish, Larxene had to admit but at the moment it was the only thing that she could think of. On the inside Haku was near to tears, Larxene was so easy when it came to Naruto, she was like a little child. It was actually pretty cute in her opinion, even after admitting to Naruto-- whether she was aware of it or not-- she was still very insecure when talking about him.

But still this was so much fun. Walking up to her, Haku swung a bare arm around Larxene's shoulder. "Aww, that's so cute, are you jealous?"

Larxene actually gasped at this, as if she was shocked that Haku figured it out. "N-no, what makes you say that?"

Haku just laughed at the blond girl's naivety. "Oh come on, it was obvious. If you must know, Naruto-kun just took around on a little tour of the village." Here was the best part, Haku wanted to see Larxene's reaction. After all, she was her rival in love, she wouldn't hold back. "And then," she continued on slowly, "he took me to this really secluded spot, his said it was were he came when he wanted to be alone."

The crinkle in between Larxene's eyebrows was noticeable as a scowl formed on her face, if she were sitting Haku would guess and say that Larxene would be on the edge of her seat right about now. "W-wha... t-then what happened..." Perhaps she was being a bit overzealous about this but, this was an exigency, she needed to know this stuff!

A curl formed yet again on Haku's lips. That wasn't good, Larxene braced herself for the worst. "We gazed over the entire village...then,"

"Then..." Larxene said almost nodding.

"Then he kissed me." Haku said it as if it were no big deal, like it was something that happened everyday. This was awkward for Larxene, she had never felt this jealous before in her life, she did not even know she could get this stricken with envy. Despite Haku's invidious comment, Larxene wasn't angry, no, just... envious. Naruto had kissed her and they were alone...

When Naruto first kissed her, they weren't alone, Haku was watching. Although Larxene got the first kiss, it had been when the both of them were present. Haku had gotten the first kiss while alone with him, that meant a lot more than what Naruto had given her.

Her insides twisted, Larxene had admitted to herself that she like Naruto but did she really like him to the extent that she got this jealous over something like a kiss alone with another girl. She had not noticed it before but she did not like sharing Naruto, she did not want to share him. But all was fair in love and war, so she had to.

"H-he kissed you?"

"Yeah," Haku's jaunty tone was so misleading, it sounded like she was bored but on the inside she was about as giddy as a child with a new toy. Larxene's facial expression... well was risible to say the least, it was amusing to see how frustrated Larxene got when she even said the word kiss. "It wasn't just a little peck on the cheek either or even a smack on the lips, no, it was a full on lip lock. It was deep, passionate, and long, to me it felt like an eternity before we finally broke apart." By now, Haku was not even trying to draw anything out of Larxene, she had gotten so caught up in reminiscing on her fiery osculation with Naruto that she wasn't even looking at Larxene anymore, it was as if she was talking to herself.

By the looks of it, Larxene surmised that Naruto pretty much gave it to her with his lips. That was okay though, Haku may have won that battle but Larxene would not lose this war.

"OK, I've heard enough." Larxene said cutting Haku off and bringing her back to reality.

"H-huh... oh sorry, I got caught up in the memory."

Yeah right. As if Haku wasn't trying to make her even more jealous than she was before.

_Puh-lease._

"S-so where do you think Naruto went." Larxene asked.

"I don't know, when I woke up Naruto was gone... and so was the Hinata girl you brought here." Haku placed her towel down again and retrieved her clothes from the bed. She turned around. "Why was she even here?"

Larxene shrugged, "She wouldn't tell me everything but she told me that she really needed to speak with Naruto. She said she had something to tell and it was really important."

"Well it didn't look that important seeing as how she fainted the instant Naruto spoke to her," Haku said about halfway dressed, she paused for a moment.

"You don't think that she-...." Larxene did not finish off her sentence as Haku already knew what she was getting at.

"She likes him, I mean why else would she do that?" Haku grimaced. "And if he's gone and she's gone maybe their-" Larxene cut her off.

"No no no, let's not think about that okay, let's think about something else." Haku's brow rose.

"Like?"

"Um, well for starters I need something new to wear, my old organization jacket doesn't feel right to me anymore. When Naruto took you on your little... tour," said that word with disgust, "did you happen to see any good clothing shops."

Now fully dressed Haku patted herself down. "Well, I don't remember the name of any of the stores but Naruto did take me through a shopping district, I'm sure we can find something there." Haku said with a smile.

"OK good, let's go."

"What about later, we've nothing to do and our test is tomorrow so what do we do afterward."

"We can figure something out." Larxene said approaching the window and jumping out of it.

Haku then sighed, "Does anyone here even know what a door is?" She looked at Tomo who shook her head sideways. That meant 'no'. Haku then jumped through the window in pursuit of Larxene, Tomo following behind her.

----

If there was anything that could describe Naruto right now, it would be boredom which was weird seeing as how he was walking next to a demon. Well not a demon exactly but you get the point. There was only one reason why he was bored. It seemed that this tunnel really did stretch on forever.

They had been walking down this torch-lit tunnel for at least forty minutes and there was no sign of them even getting closer to their destination. He glanced at Xion, her red hair accentuated by the dim orange glow that lined the walls of the tunnel. It seemed almost as if her hair was on fire.

His eyes came down, well she had a nice sway to her hips that was for sure. However his gaze was brought back up to Hinata who was all the way in front, she had stopped, she simply stood still.

"Hin... Kinkou," Xion gave him a look, "-sama, why did you stopped.

"Because," Xion said turning her head, "we're here."

Naruto blinked a couple of times, was she she blind. There was nothing but more tunnel in front of him. He stopped thinking to watch Hinata some more. She brought her finger up and poked it out into the air and when she did the area around her finger seemed to... move. It was more like a shimmer as if the space before them was seeming made of water.

She continued to stick her finger in and more and more did the air around it move. A couple more inches and her entire hand was inside and what was even more weird was that her hand could no longer be seen.

There was a flash of light and Naruto narrowed his eyes, this was insane. The light had grown to such an intensity that he could not bear it and he closed his eyes.A few seconds later he sensed that the light has died down, and he reopened his eyes.

He could here sounds now, the sounds of other people speaking. How was that possible?

He could not believe what he was seeing, maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. Naruto closed his eyes once more and opened them back up. Nope, it was still there.

In front of him lay a large cavern, inside hundreds of people walked about, some of them going off into other tunnels that were connected with this outrageously large underground cavern.

The sounds of iron against iron invaded his ears, he could see people both men and women, crashing steel hammers onto red hot pieces of metal. To Naruto this looked like an underground iron mill, but he knew that it was much more than that he could feel it.

His thoughts we forced back when Hinata's face came into view. Next to him he heard Xion say something. He couldn't really hear her though as the sounds of forging were to loud.

He did hear Hinata's voice though, it was as clear as bomb going off in the middle of the forest. "Naruto, what you see hear is not imaginary, it is as real as you or me." She motioned for him to follow, which he did, where she lead him past the many people forging swords and weapons and brought him to a another tunnel, although this one was much higher than the one they had come in.

"Naruto, do you know of a demon named Konton?" Hinata's stride still held its grace as she led him the the dim tunnel.

"Yes, I am fully aware, more aware than you might think."

"Then you should know that he was my brother."

"Yeah Kyuubi told me the entire story, which brings up one question. How is it that you are here when you supposedly sealed both your brother and yourself away."

"True I did do that, However, what Kyuubi did not know was that it was only my body that I sealed away however my soul has been free to roam for all these years. Konton, fortunately was sealed away both body and soul." The tunnel narrower as they reached the end and Naruto found himself staring at a large wooden rectangular door. Hinata turned to him. "This is my chamber, the seal where my body and my soul went after I sealed my brother away is inside here." She paused for a seconds. "Make sure you catch her."

"Huh..?" Hinata made a hand seal, her eyes glowed, coruscating a brilliant white light. The light in her eyes faded away, flickering on and off like a light bulb reaching the end of its life span until it finally stopped and Hinata dropped.

Oh so that's what she meant. Naruto crouched down, barely catching the now unconscious Hyuuga; she let out a weak groan. "Kinkou?" No, Kinkou was gone no longer in Hinata's body. There was a loud creak and Naruto looked up, the door in front of him was slowly opening as if propelled by its own will.

An ominous breeze whipped his face as the door stopped, open and waiting. Naruto's head snapped when he felt Xion tap his shoulder, her expression completely serious."He's in there, waiting for you."

Naruto nodded and stood, hoisting Hinata fully into his arms bridal style. He began walking into the dark room.... but then he stopped. A wave of dread crept over him, he singled out this sudden consternation as the same feeling he got when he sensed Kinkou back in Konoha. However, this feeling was much greater, much more potent. He was being smothered by it.

He looked down, feeling some odd vibration, his legs were shaking. He thought to himself, was this him or was this Zen. Slowly his foot moved, followed by his other. One by one, he took each step carefully.

Finally his foot breached the darkness of Kinkou's chamber and he was inside. There was nothing in there, nothing at all it was just an empty room. He felt Xion's hand against his back and his body was inched forward. Naruto looked back, hearing the loud creak of the door closing behind them.

"Come on," she said pushing him forth. They stopped directly in the middle, Naruto looked up seeing nothing but more darkness. If this was where the demon of balance resided, then he didn't even want to see where his brother's seal was.

There was nothing but silence, Xion said nothing, she only folded her arms as if she was waiting for something to happen. He contemplated on asking her whether or not he should do something but decided against it.

Then, when it was a silent as death itself a voice spoke out to him. **"Naruto."** He would have showed some sort of reaction but he did not want to make his mental adversity discernible. Below a dim light, hit his eyes, causing him to look down, then he saw it.

Kinkou's seal... wait that was it? What a joke, for an almighty being of balance to be contained in something smaller than a quarter that was sad, somewhat hilarious but said nonetheless.

Naruto tapped his foot down at the seal, "Is that thing th-" The seal flashed brighter, and before Naruto knew it, it had expanded. It covered the entire room, several times larger than it was before. It gave off a vivid white light; it was a basic circle, along the edge where dozens of symbols and runes that held no meaning to Naruto, the various patterns and twisting lines of the glowing seal all formed one thing.

A pentacle, a five-point star reaching every edge of the room where it illuminated everything.

Now this was a seal!

The voice came again, seeming from everywhere. **"Naruto, as of now you have been given a grave responsibility."** He undeniably masculine voice boomed, strong and controlled. But what was this about a grave responsibility, he didn't even know where the fuck he was, he knew nothing about this place. How was he all of a sudden expected to take on a grave responsibility?

"Responsibility, first off can you tell me just where the hell I am? And secondly, how the hell did you find me; I don't even know if I can trust you, you can't just waltz into my house as one of my friends and just take me away, without first explaining yourself! I want answers... now or else I'm leaving! "

"Don't speak to him like that with such disrespect!" Xion spat.

Naruto ignored her.

"**Fine then, you deserve to know, you have already proven yourself. This place that you are in, this entire complex was of my doing, those people outside, are my warriors, like Xion for instance." **

"So where do I fit in to this?" Naruto asked now annoyed.

**"I was getting to that, you see Naruto, part of my power lies within divination." **

Naruto raised a brow. "Divination, as in the power to predict the future?"

**"Precisely, and with that power I portended that you would be the one to defeat Marlucia, one of my brothers warriors. And before you ask that question, yes Konton is the source behind the Saiki's power, the way he accumulated them I am not aware of." **

Naruto shut his mouth immediately, he really did have the power of divination, no wonder it had been so hard to lay a finger on him when he was in Hinata's body, he knew exactly where he would strike.

**"I saw it in a vision, how you would defeat him, using my brother's own chakra against him. I saw it and I knew that you would be useful to me, therefore I befriended that girl Hinata and attempted to use her to get closer to you. Unfortunately that was not the case, as Hinata was too nervous to be by you upon her own will and you had already left for your mission." **

"So wait, if you can see into the future then how come you did not see that Hinata would react this way, and why Hinata of all people?"

There was a deep sigh which caused the entire chamber to rumble. **"Although I can see into the future my power is flawed, my divination is indeed significant, however, it is also random. I do not choose when I have my visions, I just have them. I guess it was not Kami's will to give anyone but himself a perfect power, that is just the way it is. And the only reason why I targeted Hinata was because I predicted that she would be the easiest to gain access to." **

"What do you mean."

**"Her ever growing love of you Naruto, that's what I mean. She was so deeply in love with you that I figured that if I even mentioned your name she would jump at the chance. I did promise her however that I would help her claim you." **

Geez what was he, some sort of prize to be won? Kinkou spoke of him as if he was just some inanimate object to be played with. "Alright, then _how_ did you get to her."

Kinkou laughed, an earthquake shaking everything around them. **"Naruto where do you think we are? We are still in fact in Konoha." **

"But how, you led me out of Konoha this morning."

This time Xion interjected, her soft voice in his ear. "That is true, the entrance to this cavern is outside of Konoha, however that tunnel we just walked through leads all the way back to Konoha, so right now we're directly underneath your village.

He did not see that one coming. So if he was correct, she just told him that there has been this huge underground cavern of Anti-Saiki fighters directly underneath his nose this entire time and he hadn't noticed it! Wow that was a lot on info to soak in, it made him wonder, what would have happened if, this morning, he had just gone back to sleep.

**"It is true Naruto, although my seal being here is purely coincidental, it is still true. That's how I was able to get to Hinata, I simply allowed my soul to travel away from my seal and interact with her." **

Naruto released a sigh, ok so part of his questions were answered he still had one more however. "Ok, so with that being the case, what do you want with me now, what am I here for?"

**"I want you to fight for me, considering that you have already had multiple run-ins with the enemy I assume that you have no objections to this task. I had a vision, Naruto, that somewhere in the future my brother would be resurrected. Chaos and discord would ensue his revival. I could waste time explaining it to you but instead let me show you. Close your eyes."**

"Naruto obeyed, shutting his eyelid tight, he could see nothing. There was a odd buzz in the back of his head and he in front of his eyes something came to view.

All he saw was an empty wasteland, trees all burned down, rivers run dry. The landscape was in ruins, ravaged beyond all recognition. The soil was charred and black and in the midst of it all he could see something, the tattered remains of a large gate. His skin crinkled as he concentrated, trying to discern what was on the partially destroyed gate.

His mind's eyes widened, that was Konoha's gate. He was seeing the future of his village. At first Naruto had not noticed it, but in the distance there was laughter, mad laughter. His ear twitched, his gaze was drawn to the one place he knew in Konoha all too well.

The Hokage faces. Standing on the monuments, specifically on the fourth's, his father's, head was a large humanoid figure. Was this the person who was responsible for this depredation? Was that Konton. He didn't look at all human, two horns, a tail, around ten feet tall, red skin. Naruto understood one thing and one thing only, he did _not_ want this!

Konton would be the one to turn Konoha into a crater. Naruto released a held in breath when he opened his eyes. His head swayed from left to right, frantically observing his surroundings. Sure enough, Xion was still there, Hinata still unconscious in his arms as well.

"Was that real?"

"Yes Naruto, Kinkou-sama's predictions are never false... that is unless we step in a make them false.

What?

**"That was very much real Naruto, do you wish for that to happen?" **

"No." He answered the question with temperance.

**"Do you wish to stop this from happening?" **

"Yes, yes I do!" This time he said it with a little less restraint.

There was a pause, the type of pause that let a person listen to the wind howl right before something big happened.

**"Then welcome to the Asahoshi." **

Wha-?" Instantly the large seal beneath Naruto sprang to life, glowing brighter than the sun. Naruto yelled out in pain, it burned, it felt like he was being enveloped in a bed of flames. His chest was on fire, someone somewhere was branding him or at least that's what it felt like. Xion however didn't seem to be affected by it. Clenching his teeth he looked down, trying to force down his growing wails, his eyes then widened as best as they could.

Hinata, she was being affected by this as well. Like a slug tormented by salt she twisted and squirmed in his arms, he saw on her neck that there was something forming. It was glowing, a symbol, a five-point star, the exact likeness of Kinkou's seal. He couldn't take it anymore, subject to this sudden adversity Naruto dropped to his knees.

His vision wavered, and his wails subsided. Then everything went black. (Damn all that happened in the morning?)

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Ok I am finally done with this f-ing chapter. Woohoo, what's happening Naruto's part of some weird cult now... oh what shall happen next? No like really right now, I don't even know what the hell's going one, shoo, I make half this shit up as I go. The whole underground thing, yeah that was thought of while I was in the shower, I was like listen to the radio, Kanye specifically and then for some reason I snapped my fingers and was all like, "Yeah, I'll put the thing underground!"

But anyway, steering away from the way I come up with my ideas, um I hope that you guys liked this chapter, I think I did ok with it. But I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Xion has finally made her appearance and for those of you who were hoping for it yes, we finally got a red-head in the story!

Plus, Hinata's now intertwined into the fic as well, I mean after that who the hell could still be left out? So expect some interaction between them.

Now :**aLERT!: REVIEWS KNOW, i WANT THEM, i NEED THEM! i AM AT LIKE 378 REVIEWS RIGHT NOW, i NEED YOU GUYS TO HELP ME GET TO AT LEAST 405 AND IF YOU COULD 410, i'D BE REALLY JAZZED ABOUT THAT. i HOPE TO GET LIKE THIRTY REVIEW WITH THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE DO ME A SOLID. **

Top five reviewers:

Weasal

Icey Dragon Flame

Sir MIDNIGHT The DarkSlayer

narusakukyu

Doom-Chan (I got a laugh out of that one.)

Must I say this every single time, jeez, if I have to then Ok. Do you see those five people up there, well yeah, they.... are BADASS. That's right and don't you forget but just in case you do forget it, write it down! Go onto their profile give them some hits and if they have stories, review those freakin badass to the fifth power stories! Thank you....

Latr and Thanx

Next chapter: Alchemy

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	17. Alchemy

Yeaaah boiiii

Chapter seventeen has finally broken through the ice, I apologize if anyone felt as if they had to wait long. I also apologize, for that last chapter of mine, I kind of rushed it, and I don't think that I did a very good job.

So I promise to do better, hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

As of now Naruto is in the Asahoshi, he's still underground, yada yada yada, he's STILL with Hinata and something else...I just can't remember.

Okay I don't feel like wasting anymore time so...

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas

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Sacred Mark of the Rising Kekkei Genkai

Wake up, Naruto, Wake up

Naruto woke up, he looked around... and grimaced. He couldn't feel anything in his left arm and his chest still ached, a dull remnant of what was once there. He moved his face along gravel and spat when a few loose pebbles slipped into his mouth. He sat up, removing most of the small rocks from his still bare chest. His eyes narrowed, he was thinking hard.

He was back above ground, so that was good... right? His eyes glanced to the right. Hinata lay beside him, still unconscious, the seal on her neck glowing a pale blue. He fixated his gaze on the fey symbol etched in her skin, his eyes transfixed with awe; he then wondered to himself, had Hinata seen the vision as well? Whatever the answer to that was, he knew one thing, she was now a part of this.

As much as he loved laying on the ground bare chested, now was not the time for it. He staggered to his feet and scooped Hinata in his arms. Which was proving to be quite difficult, it's not like she was heavy or anything. On the contrary, she was as light as a feather, it was just that with his left arm seemingly out of commission he was thrown off by an awkward sensation. The sun, its pernicious rays and all, hit his back, making him groan. Still, he began walking, slowly, shakily, carefully.

EVERY step took out so much energy, how was he supposed to make it back to Konoha like this? Despite his adversity Naruto still walked, painfully and forcefully placing each foot in front of the other.

He stepped in a patch where the gravel was deeply concealing a ditch in the ground. The ground gave way underneath his foot as he stumbled only to catch himself and Hinata with his knee.

Hinata stirred a bit, Naruto watched her carefully. Hopefully she would wake up, and hopefully she would be able to walk. The sky was orange with the sun, that meant that it was around noon. His head dropped back down when he felt a the increased weight of Hinata jostling around in his arms.

"Hinata?" he said softly.

Surprisingly, she... smiled at the sound of his voice. "Yes... " she replied dreamily.

"Wake up." Her eyes snapped open, following his command, and the pale lavender hue of her empty eyes stared directly into his.

"N-Naruto-, I I... uh-" she was cut off when Naruto shushed her. He held his finger over his mouth, telling her not to speak for the moment.

"Hinata, I want you to answer me, did you agree to Kinkou syncing with your soul?" She didn't answer at first, her eyes just drifted slowly away. He needed to find out just who he was working for. He needed to know what kind of entity Kinkou was, her reply would be his answer.

She opened her mouth but then she closed it and only nodded. That diffidence didn't go on unnoticed by Naruto, she was being hesitant about something. Noting her temperance, Naruto asked again just to be sure, he didn't want to working for a manipulator. When she nodded her head again, Naruto sighed. He still couldn't be sure, he still didn't trust her gesture, it was too restrained to be trusted. What if Kinkou had told her not to say a word about him, he needed to be cautious around her, that seal on her neck was just way too suspicious.

The wind soughed, a light howl in the air. "We'd better get going." Naruto said, "Can you walk?" Once again her silence was noted as she nodded her head, slowly.

He placed her down as she staggered slightly before regaining her balance.

Once again they began walking, the both of them. Hinata was having just as much as a hard a time a he was. Every few seconds, one of them, if not both of them, would stagger and force the other to come to their aid.

"Are you sure you can walk?"

She nodded once more.

It went on silent for a while, and nobody said anything. Naruto really didn't mind, he needed to think to himself. That wasn't the last time that he would be visiting that place, eventually, he would have to come back though. But for now, all he knew was that Kinkou allowed him to rest for awhile, but why though? Was it compassion, maybe Kinkou was trustworthy, if only a little bit, but then again maybe he not much better than his brother.

He remembered waking up every few minutes in a dimly lit room, the dusty bed dug in to his sides with its protruding springs but at the time he didn't care. Every time he opened his eyes, someone told him to go back to sleep, "It's not over yet.", they said.

He remembered the tickled of cold paint, as someone, a priest maybe, painted intricate little symbols all over his body. At the time, all he could do was mutter an incoherent string of letters that made no sense to him at all.

Hinata was in the bed next to him, his vision barely pointing out the still glowing seal on her neck. After that someone had placed there hands over his eyes, dragging him back down to the oneiric world dreams.

Now all he needed to figure out was... what had they done to him. Some sort of seal was placed on Hinata, but what had been done to him.

What?

What was it?

_'What could that pain in my chest have possibly been?'_ he asked himself.

"Naruto?"

His head snapped quickly at Hinata's voice. "Yes, Hinata?"

"I know."

His eyebrow raised a bit, she knew about what? "What do you know about?" He asked now interested.

The was a long paused, for a moment the only sound that could be heard was the sound of their footsteps. "I know about that thing, that makes you different from everyone else, I know."

"What do you know, tell me."

"I know about what they placed on you." Naruto gasped, how did she know he was thinking about that? Discarding that question he made room for a new question, however that question came out as a command rather than what he intended it to be.

"Tell me now."

She looked away, "I-I can't-" his glare caused her to throw up her hands in defense, "-but!" She pleaded.

"But what?"

"I can tell you that while you were unconscious, Kinkou, had a conversation with Kyuubi." She said simply.

Naruto froze, he came to a halt. His eyes were wide open. Hinata stopped as well, and clutched her robe tightly, her eyes aimed at the floor. "I know ab-" she was cut off when she felt the Naruto's hands gripping her shoulders. She screamed as she was pushed down to the ground; this was not happening. She had never expected Naruto of all people to do something like this, but apparently this wasn't the same Naruto from the academy.

He was no longer that sad little hyper-active knuckled headed ninja whom she had come to admire so much, this was the real Naruto.

He got on top of her, normally in her clandestinely perverted mind, she would have said that she liked this but these weren't normal circumstances.

His expression was fierce, stricken with anger. She winced from the pressure on his ribs, he was heavy. She squirmed in vain, attempting to remove herself. Pain lanced through her, and it was becoming hard for her to breath. Slowly her mouth opened as she released a number of pain induced pules and grunts.

"Who told you about that!" He yelled it directly into her face, causing her to turn her head away. Never had she thought that she would feel fear from her crush. This was the real Naruto, there was no running away from it.

"I-I'm sorry, N-Naruto-sama, I won't mention it again!" Naruto gasped, jerking back.

"Naruto-...sama? ... Hinata, why did you just call me that?" He asked, applying more pressure to her ribs. She closed one eyes, wincing, and whimpered a bit. His eyes widened, the seal on her neck was still glowing.

"Hinata, tell me, why did you call me that?" He said shaking her by the shoulders.

She squealed a bit. "B-Because, you are my master."

He gasped again. What had Kinkou done to her, Hinata the heir to the Hyuuga clan was acknowledging him as her... master?

He stood up, releasing her from his avoirdupois. "I need you to tell me, who told you about me?"

She shifted to a position where she was sitting on her knees. "Ang-... I mean Kinkou, he told me all about Kyuubi, the Saiki, and the Namikaze." If that was the case, then Hinata knew almost everything about him that there was to know. This wasn't right, that seal on her neck was definitely the cause of this.

"Hmph, well there is nothing that I can do about that, I can only ask that you not tell anyone."

"Yes, anything for you Naruto-sama!"

"Ah, stop calling me that."

She nodded, "Yes Naruto-sama!" She said happily. Naruto sighed, she obviously thought that he was actually her master.

"Hinata, can I ask you something else?" A smile came upon her face and she nodded energetically.

"Absolutely, Naruto-sa-...mmph-," however she was cut off by Naruto's hand covering her mouth.

"I said stop," his expression was serious, he slowly removed his hand.

Hinata only nodded, rather cutely, as she locked eyes with him waiting for his next word.

"Hinata, Do you know what Kinkou did to you with that seal?"

She nodded and opened her mouth, adopting on a innocent face. "He connected me."

"To what?" Naruto asked but jerked upward when he felt Hinata's arm squirming underneath him. In order to avoid the odd yet pleasant sensation Naruto inched up allowing Hinata to free her arm. She moved her arm above her head and then it extended toward him, her finger aimed at his nose.

"Not, to what but to who. He connected me with you." Her finger then dropped down, tracing his left bicep until she stopped in the middle of it. He attempted to stop her but, decided against it, whatever it was that she was doing, he could benefit from knowing about it.

Pushing his skin like a button, Hinata applied pressure and smiled once it began to glow. Unbelievably, the same exact seal had appeared on Naruto's skin, the same one as hers. "You see?" Both of their seals then faded away.

Suppressing a twitch as he shook his head, looked back at her, "Ok, another question." This would really tell him whether or not Kinkou was a manipulative bastard or an actual ally.

"Anything."

"Did you know what would happen to you when he put the seal on, did you know that you would begin acting like this."

Hinata nodded, "Yes I did."

Naruto frowned, "But why?" Naruto asked frantically, "why would connect yourself with me?"

Hinata looked away, a blush occupying her face. Naruto grimaced, he knew what that meant. "It, was so that I could change myself in order.... to get close to you, I tried to abolish my weakness by training myself into the ground but I still could sense a bit of it inside me whenever I thought about you. So in order to get rid of that same weakness, I had Kinkou alter my personality, it was his reward for me letting him occupy my body. And now that he's done that-," Hinata smiled and threw her arm around his neck, pulling him closer to her so that their faces were only inches apart, "- I don't feel embarrassed about admitting that I... want you, Naruto-sama."

Naruto closed his eyes, chuckling a bit to himself. "Is that so?" He said before he got off her, he looked away. "Well you're not the only one, there are two other girls who probably wouldn't like the notion of a third girl in the party."

"Oh, you mean Larxene and that other girl?" She stood, patting herself off and clung to his side. Truly she had been changed, thanks to this seal, she had lost all of her modesty. Now she just wanted him and nobody but him.

"Yeah, that's who I mean, and by the way the other girl's name is Haku."

"I'm sure we can become friends." She said. Naruto actually laughed at that.

"I not so sure about that, but what do I know," he cringed at a slight sting on his chest, right where his seal was. "Let's go and remember, don't... tell... anyone. You are the only person of our generation that knows my secret, got it?"

She squeezed his arm tighter, "Hai, Naruto-sama!" she chirped.

"I said don't call me that!"

"Ah, r-right Naruto-sa, ah, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto placed his finger on his chin and then shrugged, "Acceptable," he said.

With that their feet hit the ground once more, despite both them being in their current condition, they still walked. Eventually, the gravel clearing gave way to the green copses that were indigenous to Konoha, they were in the forest. The soft dirt muted their footsteps, allowing them to listen only to the sound of the numerous creatures scampering back and forth behind, next to and in front of them.

The entire way, Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit awkward about this; in less than a day Naruto had went from barely knowing her to her master in no time. It led him to wonder just exactly how long she had been keeping this in, because if it took a demon to let it all out then she must have secretly wanted something like this for a while.

But it couldn't hurt to know the reason, right?

"Hinata?"

"Yes?" she replied. warily avoiding a limp vine hanging in front of them.

"Is this what you really wanted, me?"

She said nothing, thinking hard for a split second and then looked at him, nodding softly, her eyes set ablaze with pale lavender fire.

Naruto then shook his head, "No I meant, me... as a master."

"Oh," She then looked ahead of them, "Actually I didn't really now how my mind would get altered really, I simply told Kinkou that if he could expurgate the weaker points in me, like my modesty and aloofness, and that if it would get me closer to you then I'd be ok with it. So no, this isn't partially what I want really, its just what happened and I'm going to have to make the best of it."

"Even if it means recognizing me as your master?"

"Even if it means that, my master you shall be."She replied. She said it easily, like calling Naruto master was all of a sudden some perfunctory duty that she, believe it or not, enjoyed. It was odd, when she called him that, it sounded like it had become a habit, like she had practiced calling him "master". One thing was clear to him know, Kinkou was powerful and despite his methods, he should be considered an ally. Something like him could be a wonderful asset, if he had to power to make Hinata like this then Naruto could only begin to imagine what other things he could do.

He glanced at Hinata, and was immediately stricken with a tinge of pity. He really wished that he noticed her feeling earlier, but really how could he, she was always so distant and taciturn. No person could really blame him for noticing, well at least not the old him anyway. Hinata changed herself... for him, but he barely knew her.

How was he supposed to react to that?

This was all to stressful at the moment.

That was it, time for more silence, he needed to think. For another hour they walked through the forest, silently. Naruto, his face was constricted in a deep train of thought, Hinata... well Hinata mostly stared at Naruto the entire time.

They continued like this, walking through the eternity of forest for a while until Naruto parted ways with his mind for a few seconds in order to glance up at the road they had walked onto about twenty minutes ago. He smiled, along with Hinata; the polished open green gates of Konoha stood tall in front of them a couple of meters.

Finally things were staring to look familiar again.

"Thank you, never have I been so happy to so those giant green doors in my life." Naruto said, releasing a sigh, Hinata herself had a smile on her face.

But then something, caught Naruto's eyes, something, no, someone standing at the entrance. He narrowed his eyes, espying a man wrapped in green and white robes, his skin pale and his eyes..... white?

"Is that a Hyuuga?" Naruto asked, turning to Hinata. Obviously, Hinata's vision was much better that Naruto's, because judging by her shallow breathing and widened eyes, she could see exactly who this Hyuuga was. This was bad, definitely bad, this didn't look good in the least bit.

To be caught with Naruto, by _him_ of all people, this was horrible. Hinata's lower lip trembled, she would definitely be punished for this.

"Hinata, you ok-" but then he raised an eyebrow, something else caught his eyes, he saw noticed that this person was staring directly at Hinata.

She turned her eyes toward him, not her head though, just her eyes. "Naruto, I have to go now, I-I'll see you later, if Kinkou notifies you on anything then contact me."

"How, trust me... just think about it." With that she let go of his arm, overlapping them in front of her legs, her head drooped down and she quickened her pace, quickly creating a gap between her and her "master".

Naruto dug his hands in his pockets, Hinata had already stopped in front of the obviously furious Hyuuga. He quickened his pace, and walked past them, his eye concentrating on him alone. It was a slow walk, no even slower, it was a bullet-time walk. It felt as if Naruto could have delivered a speech in the split second that he walked past that furious Hyuuga. He just gave of that type of aura.

But then Naruto heard something, something that made him stop dead in his tracks. It was Hinata's voice, "My deepest apologies Father."

His eyes widened. Father? _This _was her her father? Hyuuga Hiashi, he had never really met the man, but Naruto had always heard that he was extremely powerful and shouldn't be trifled with, especially when it came to things dealing with his clan. And the fact that he was just seen all tattered up and bruised--not to mention shirtless--with the heiress of said clan that he was so protective of didn't bring a warm feeling into his stomach.

If he had to take a wild guess, Naruto would guess that he was already off to a bad start, things like this don't necessarily put people on good terms with each other.

Naruto hesitated and contemplated on apologizing to the man for taking his daughter for so long. Actually it was the other way around but that's beside the point. He prepared to open his mouth but when he saw the flicker of movement in Hinata's eyes toward him Naruto shut his lips closed and turned around.

Looks like Hiashi hadn't missed that small flicker of movement however, for he turned around and grabbed Naruto's shoulder. The boy did a one-eighty and faced an angry Hiashi. "Heh heh, hey... there...." Naruto said nervously.

He should have just kept walking.

Hiashi intensified his grip on Naruto, yeah the sensation instantly escalated from deep-tissue massage to painful execution, and it was painful.

"Ah!" Naruto said wincing, as he forcefully backed out of his intense grip. He gripped his shoulder tightly, trying to numb the pain. What was that... chakra?

Yes, yes it was, and he couldn't feel his arm.

Behind Hiashi, he could see Hinata silently slap her forehead.

"I'll say this once, and only once, I don't have time to be speaking with the likes of _you_!" Hiashi's voice erupted like an active volcano, drawing the heads of the many passerbys. Boy, how great must this have been for the older nin and villagers to watch, to see the scum of Konoha get verbally abused by the head of the strongest ninja clan in the village.

Almost as good as pay per view, but not quite, if Hiashi began hitting Naruto, THEN it would be better than pay per view.

"I don't care about anything you have to say, I don't want any explanations. I'll give you one warning and one warning only, you feckless excuse for ninja! Never, and I mean never, come near my daughter, unless you value your life! And believe me I will take your life, that would probably do the village more good than bad, now before I kill you right here, begone!

He swayed his hand in the air, giving Naruto the cue to politely move himself and preserve what ever dignity he had left. Slowly Naruto turned around, his shoulder still seething with pain, his teeth clenched, people looking at him with smiles on their faces. Not just regular smiles, smiles of pure glee.

Right now he really wanted to rip those all seeing eyes of his out and hand them over to rest of the Hyuuga. His pride had been damage just now, and Naruto wouldn't stand for that.

He dropped his head, still gripping his shoulder, and brought it back up and looked the man directly in the eye.

Hiashi's eyes widened, and his lower lips dropped down. "You...-" Naruto cut him off.

"I'd like to see you try and kill me, old-timer!" Oh that hit a nerve, the tic in Hiashi's forehead told him so.

Hiashi simply stood there, speechless, his lower lip gyrating up and down, a lip seizure.

With that Naruto chuckled and turned away, partially repairing his pride, there was no way that Namikaze Naruto would stand there and accept a diatribe. But unfortunately, Hiashi had to find out the hard way what happened when you denigrated Namikaze Naruto. It was kind of funny, the arm that he couldn't feel was the same arm that Hinata was holding, coincidence?

Not at all.

Hiashi didn't say a word after that, he just watched Naruto walk away.

Hinata lifted a brow, it wasn't that serious, all Naruto did--which was awesome- was call him old, surely that wasn't enough to go into complete shock. "Father are you-"

"Shut up!" He cut her off and turned back to Naruto's disappearing body. "H-His eyes... could it be?"

-----

Hinata sat alone in one of the many meditation halls of her family's compound, her eyes closed. The hall was a basic square, lined along each side were small scented candles, giving the room a pleasant aroma.

She sat on her knees, her hands spread across her lap. For some reason she had gotten in to doing things like, if there was one thing that she could agree on with the rest of her family, it would be that silence is one of the most valuable things that a person could ever have.

She let out a sigh of content, but the dull patter of footsteps in the hallway outside caused her to frown, crinkles forming between her eyes. The dry sound wood sliding against dry wood, caused her to twitch but she didn't bother to turn her head. She knew exactly what was about to happen. One of those nameless branch member servants would walk inside and inform her that her father wanted to speak with her, and he or she would say it in the most hidden way that subtlety would allow, as if she _didn't _know that she was in trouble.

But right now, she didn't care.

As expected, the nameless branch member walked inside and by the sounds of it, she knelt down. She didn't make more than a slight bump when she hit the ground, so Hinata guessed that she was female.

Then the voice came, soft, gentle, afraid. "L-Lady Hinata, Y-you father wishes to speak with you in his chambers. If you w-will, please allow me to e-escort you?"

Hinata slowly turned her head, so that one pale lavender eye was visible and locked onto a small brown haired female servant, no this wasn't right this servant was only a girl, no older than Hinata herself, maybe a year younger.

The girl paled, her mouth hung open frozen. Hinata's eye narrowed, the female servant gasped.

A sharp intake of breath, Hinata knew what that meant in this situation: fear. This servant was actually afraid of Hinata of all people, perhaps it was the aura that she gave off? But then again, that was the aura of almost every main family Hyuuga in the village, cold, manipulative, overwhelming. But Hinata refused to adopt that aura, she would not be seen in the same light as every one else, as her father.

Hinata raised her head a bit so that half of her mouth could be seen and she smiled. The servant girl seemed to lighten up at that, she too gave Hinata a faint smile.

"Father wishes to see me you say?"

She nodded her head, ever so slightly, just like a good little Hyuuga servant would do, but Hinata would have none of that. Hinata spun around knees and faced the petite woman, who back away a bit.

Hinata really didn't know what she was doing she just sort of felt sorry for the girl. Before she knew it her hands lunged out and grabbed onto her servant's hand, cupping it in hers. "Don't be afraid, speak to me know, I want to hear you speak. I'll ask again, father wants to see me?" She gave her a smile, which the chestnut haired girl reciprocated with a smile of her own.

"Y-yes, he asked me to come get you, Hinata-sama, will y-you, come?"

"Yes, it not like I have a choice in the matter. Now," Hinata said rising to her feet along with her servant, their hands stil intertwined, "let us go but first, may I know your name?"

"M-my name?"

Hinata nodded. She felt pity, and that pity led her think about something. Now she new how Naruto felt, to tell the truth, it didn't really feel all that good to be called master by a person you barely knew. They only called you master because they felt that they had to, it was their obligation, their only purpose, to serve their master.

"M-my name is, Yui."

"What's your last name?"

"I-I don't have one, at least I-I don't know it. I'm an orphan." That was sad to hear, this girl was just like Naruto, except for the whole nine-tailed thing, but nevertheless she was just like him. Maybe that was why she was about to do this, this girl had the same story as her master.

"How old are you?" Hinata asked.

"E-eleven." Hinata was right on the spot, the girl was only a year younger than her.

"Okay then Yui-chan, how would you like to serve me personally?"

Yui blushed a bit, wavering, constantly looking everywhere else but at Hinata.

"No No, I mean how would like to serve me, personally, as in I shall be the only person who you are obligated to serve. Me and me only, and don't worry I promise that you feel at all like a slave."

Yui brightened up at this. "Y-yes, thank you Hinata-sama!"

Hinata brought her finger up to Yui's face and wagged it back and forth. "Ah, not Hinata-sama."

"Um, H-Hinata-c-chan?"

Hinata brought her finger to her chin and then looked up at the ceiling before glancing down. With a smile Hinata said "Acceptable". Now she really felt like Naruto, and it actually felt good.

"Come on, let's go." Hinata said, as Yui led her out of the room. Down the hall, a turn right onto an even longer hall. Hinata's feet never made a sound as she gracefully strode across the polished floorboards. All Hyuuga were supposed to walk with some amount of dignity and grace, and as indifferent as Hinata was within the clan, that was the one thing that she was not missing.

She had dignity and with it came the grace, her feet swiftly patted the floor before dashing back up. She was in every sense of the phrase, she was truly light on her feet. They made a left turn, outside, and crossed through one of the gardens. Hues of red and blue and yellow invaded her vision, it was like walking through a rainbow.

Now that she noticed it, the compound was actually really peaceful.

Finally, once they were inside, they turned yet again onto the hall that Hinata hated to walk down the most. The hall leading to her father's chamber. A couple of more steps were made and they were both in front of the door, Yui in front.

Yui raised her hand to knock, but she stopped when Hiashi's voice sounded from the inside. "Hinata, I've been waiting, you may come inside. Girl, you stay outside and wait... no as a matter of fact return to you quarters."

His voice sounded tetchy and irritable.

Hinata gave Yui a smile, "You can go to my room," she whispered to her while covering her mouth, aware of her father. She knew that he could see them, and she knew that he could read lips, so she had to be careful not to be precise with her lip movements, her father was just that good. He could read you lips without even having to see you lips directly, he could spot out every single wrinkle in the skin and read them perfectly. When a person spoke their lips moves and around their lips their skin folded, just a little bit. But that wasn't of any matter to her father, he could figure out your words just by reading the folds that minuscule folds in your skin.

It wasn't a wonder why no person could hide anything from her father.

She placed her hand on the wood, and slid it open before quickly slipping inside. She smiled on the inside, the rapid footsteps behind her faded away until they were no more.

She took her seat, well, she took to the floor, directly in front of her father who was, well, on the floor as well. Her face holding a visage of impassiveness.

"Hinata, explain yourself. What were you doing with that boy?" Hiashi said, his eyes narrowing at the thought of Naruto. Despite her recent boost in skill, her father still saw her as the weak, shy shell of a girl who couldn't stand up for herself, boy would he be in for a surprise. Hiashi, cleared his throat, waiting for an answer.

"Why is it that you wish to know father?" Hinata said softly, her voice laced with twisted innocence.

Hiashi's instantly contorted with anger. "Hinata, I will ask this only once more. I have no time for games, so now tell me, what where you doing with that trash?"

Hinata frowned, that would not be allowed, if there anything that Naruto was not, it was trash, he was by far the opposite. If she had to be the one to speak for him, she would say that Naruto was more like precious gold. And would you look at that, she _was _the one speaking for him.

"He is not trash, show him so respect." She said calmly.

"Hinata, he _is_ trash, he's hated throughout the village and despised by all."

Hinata then raised her hand, cutting him off. His face adopting pure shock. "Correction father, he is almost hated by all, I myself do not hate him, In fact I like him and I'm ashamed that you would even say something like that. How does that sound coming from the Hyuuga clan head?" Hinata smiled on the inside, Hiashi's face contorted fiercely and grasp with anger.

"How dare you, know this well, that you are my-" but then he stopped and smiled, laughing a bit, "-actually it matters not, you are failure as a Hyuuga and what you are ashamed of shall not affect my opinion on the boy, or anyone else's for that matter." Damn, she close there but that didn't quite cut it. For some reason, Hinata enjoyed the expression her father gave her, it actually made feel a bit better. Surprisingly, she wanted to make him angry at her.

"Did he touch you?" Hiashi said calmly. Trying to find a fault in Naruto, well god luck with that. Hinata would make sure that he would have nothing to complain about.

"No father, in fact I was the one who touched him." Hiashi's eyes widened, but then fell back down.

"Then what of the bruises on his body, what of those?" He glared at her, those eyes were cold, they were cruel, she never wanted to possess them, never.

"Simple, we just trained for a bit." Hinata lied.

"You trained outside of Konoha?" Hiashi said, immediately catching on to her lie, his eyebrow was raised.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Hinata said frowning.

"Yes there is! Hinata I want to make this clear, I do not want you seeing that boy, ever, don't go near him, don't let him near you. If you do, then believe me you will be punished!" Hinata was a shy girl, a worthless and weak kunoichi, she had no potential. A simple threat should have been enough to get her to comply.

"No father! I want to make this clear, what I do in my personal time is my business and my business only. You have no right to tell me what I can and I can't do, if I want to see Naruto, then I will."

"Actually, I do have that right Hinata, as your father."Hiashi snapped.

"And since when are you my father?" Hinata snapped back, Hiashi actually gasped at this. What had gotten into this girl, what happened to the shy and vulnerable child that used to be his daughter. It was as if she had changed her way of... thinking, completely. To be honest, he was surprised and in a very bizarre way, a tad bit proud. The weakling had actually bad mouthed the clan head.

"As long as you live under my roof, I will not allow you to see him!" Hiashi spat.

Hinata stayed quiet and Hiashi smile, it seemed that she understood her place. But he had no clue that she would say what she was about to say.

"Then shall I leave?"

Now Hiashi gasped, no this wasn't Hinata, this was someone completely different. Someone much more aggressive, someone who she should have been from the start.

"It would not look good for the Hyuuga clan, if their heiress were to be banished, now would it?" Hinata said smugly.

Hiashi laughed, she was a fool. "Honestly, you must be a fool to think I would be swayed by that, your sister would be more than happy to take your place. After all she has shown much better progress in the Jyuuken than you have."

"True," Hinata said standing up, she had taken enough of this crap, "but do you think that I will keep my mouth shut as to why I am no longer living in this compound. Would you really be alright with the village knowing that the head of the Hyuuga clan is a manipulative cormorant who is willing to thrown away his own daughter just because he she was spotted with Uzumaki Naruto? That'd be bad for our image, now wouldn't it daddy."

"Threats don't work, Hinata, but I'm impressed, what has gotten into you?"

"Please father," she said opening the door, "flattery doesn't work either. Anyway, I have nothing more to say but this: I will tell you nothing about Uzumaki Naruto and I will continue to see him and you shall do nothing to me because of it. Oh and tell Hanabi-chan that, if she ever wants to spar, then I'm ready. You need to see who really has progressed more."

With that she spun around, her back toward a wordless Hiashi. But then she stopped.

Standing in front of her was her cousin, Neji. His eyes were just like her father's, an exact likeness, even right down to the way they were blinking so rapidly, apparently he had heard their conversation.

"What are you looking at?" She said brushing past him, damn that felt good. Neji looked at her, blinking hard and then to Hiashi.

"Was that-"

"Yes, that was your cousin." Hiashi motioning for Neji to come in. Once he was out of the way, he could just barely see the dark fabric of her robe disappear around the corner.

-----

Naruto stood, more like slouched, in front of his door. That probably wasn't the best choice that he could have made back there. The look on that stuck up Hyuuga's face was priceless, but Naruto was beginning to contemplate on whether or not doing that was worthwhile.

_'Showing your Kekkei Genkai to the all knowing eyes of Hiashi Hyuuga, not on of your better ideas, huh Naruto?' _He suddenly stopped, he was talking to himself and this time it didn't count as talking with himself on technical terms like it did with Zen, no, Naruto was truly talking to himself.

Awkward.... (I say in high pitched voice)

As his hand hit the knob, Naruto froze where he was, hit by a wave of nausea. Quickly Naruto spun around, glancing in the direction of the sun. Well, Kinkou sure did know how to make his presence known. That was the signal, the signal that Naruto knew meant that he was wanted by Kinkou.

Looking at the dark orange sky, Naruto sighed. Kinkou would have to wait, he was just way too tired to do anything right now, well, anything besides sleep. It was already past noon and the sun had gone past its high point, the light was fading fast. At least he knew what he'd be doing for the rest of the day, sleeping for sure.

He broke away from the magnetizing nature of Kinkou's chakra and turn his attention back to his door know, which he hand was still on. And just as his attention had turned so had his hand on the knob. The knob clinked, giving his hand a bit of resistance. It wouldn't budge.

Naruto grimaced, a locked door, as of now this was his worst enemy. The only thing that was preventing him from charging his mattress was the burnished slender piece of wood and brass. He then remembered, he didn't actually use the door since yesterday and seeing as how it was locked, neither had Larxene or Haku.

His hands, react quickly, swiftly moving from the door and into his pocket. Inside his pocket his fingers then curled, making a fist. Dammit, just his luck, no key! Hand, which by the way was the only one that could move, flew up to his forehead, hitting the surface with a resound "slap".

"Dammit, my keys are inside!" He glared at the door, and closed his eyes shut, what he was about to do, he really didn't want to do.

And it was such a nice door too, just fixed it... but oh well. Wood gave way to skin as Naruto's fist came crashing through door, he leaned in sticking his arm in all the way up to his elbow. For a moment he felt around, groping for the handle until the back of his hand hit something hard.

A few seconds later, the door swung open, on the inside and Naruto was thrown off balance almost falling through the entrance to his apartment instead of walking through. He slowly removed his hand from the wooden door, very slowly....

Yes, a splinter was a bad thing, a very bad thing.

He didn't bother to close the door, he just made his way to his room, the hinges on the door squeaked as he slowly entered. The room was clean which caused him to question just what happened but he soon dismissed it, saying only one word.

"Haku."

Fatigue, stress, inanition, perspiration; four things that defined Naruto at the moment. That connection or whatever it was Kinkou did to him and Hinata, it had taken a lot out of him. He knew of only one thing that could bring everything back though.

Sleep.

His feet hit the floor fast, pushing him in the direction of his bed. And like that they were in the air, swaying weakly and he lunged, colliding into the soft mattress. He let out a sigh, overtaken by the blissful sensation of being immersed in an ocean of bed sheets. Outside, the mechanic sound of rooftop air conditioners built into the tops of buildings buzzed through his window. But before the sound reached his ears, Naruto was already.

------

Somebody poked the sensitive point directly underneath Naruto's armpit.

Naruto woke up.

"Nnnghaaa! Huh... wha-... what-," once he ceased his incoherent babble his face immediately twisting into a scowl. He rolled over on his back, releasing a groan.

"Hey, Naruto, did you know that your door was, uh, open?" Naruto's hands slid against his bedsheets until they came to a stop behind his head. He couldn't really see all that well, his left eye was covered in a dry crust, tinging his vision pink. As he cleared the crust away, a yawn made its way out of his mouth.

"Yeah, I know," he replied wearily. "Anyway do you care to answer the question as to why there is an Uchiha in my room?"

Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets, scoffing. "Kakashi-sensei just told me to come and get you, we're meeting at the training ground, and in ten minutes you'll be late." He walked over to the still open window.

"You look a mess, what the hell happened to you?" He asked, plopping down on the widow sill.

Naruto sat up, one blue eye swished over in Sasuke's direction. "That's none of your damn business."

Sasuke frowned and looked out the window, he's eyes widening. In a burst of motion Sasuke clenched his teeth and dropped down to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto asked, walking up to the window. He stuck his head out... and smiled. Naruto saw exactly what Sasuke doing, down below on the street was a mass of rotating female heads. Girls, lot of them, all of them in front of his apartment, all of their heads swaying in different directions.

"Fan girls?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded frantically, "Yeah, they saw me on my way here and followed me, I thought that they would be gone by now."

Naruto sneered as an idea made its way into his head.

"Naruto, could you do me a favor?"

"No."

Sasuke growled.

"You're on your own, but... I can do this," he walked to the window, poking his head out once again. "Hey girls, up here!" Behind him he could hear Sasuke gasp. All heads snapped up toward his window. On most of the females faces, he could see the red tinge of a blush. He had almost forgot that his shirt was off, but he knew one thing. They would forget all about him, once they saw this.

"What do you want?" One of them yelled up.

"I take it that your searching for Sasuke, right?"

Their faces lit up.

"Yeah, do you know where he is?"

Naruto smiled.

"Yes, I do... in fact," he glanced behind him, he back inside.

"No, Naruto, you dobe, I kill you! Don't touch me.... ah!" Before the mob of girls knew Sasuke had been launched out of Naruto's window and down into the crowd. Naruto then smiled, hearing Sasuke's blood curdling cry, as he was swallowed by the mass of love-struck chicks.

Naruto ran back to the window, just in time to see Sasuke's hand disappear beneath the tumult. He let out a little chuckle, "Oh boy, he slipped away but he's better place now."

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto's head jerked back and he winced from the deafening squeal of one of Sasuke's fanatical devotees, a smile still on his face. He had to think about that for a second, a better place? ".... Maybe not."

----

Naruto swung back and forth, hanging from the branch of a tree. His arms were crossed, in a gesture of annoyance, if not for opulent shade saving him from the hot sun, he probably would have been way passed annoyed by now.

"Naruto... do you know where Sasuke is?" Said Kakashi's voice, he leaned on the tree's trunk not to far off from Naruto, clasped in his hand was-- you guessed it-- his trusty Icha Icha Paradise porno. He didn't bother looking away from his "novel", he just slipped his hand out his pocket, pointing one perverted finger Naruto's way.

Sakura, who had been sitting to Kakashi's right and directly underneath Naruto, inclined her head until most of it made contact with the bark behind. "Yeah," she said picking up on what Kakashi was insinuating, "we sent him to get you, so how come you got here before you?" She said blinking rapidly.

One eyelid slowly slid open, he arched his back so that he could see her and so that she could see his smile. Sakura arched an eyebrow, she had a bad feeling about that smile. This new Naruto was... mischievous to say the least, a bit cooler, but mischievous nonetheless. Although he still couldn't compete with Sasuke.

Naruto made to open his mouth, "Let's just say that Sasuke is a bit pre-occupied at the moment."

She frowned. "Stop being cryptic, tell what you did to him."

Naruto, chuckled, both eyes were open. "Cryptic, me, no!" He placed his hands on his hips which looked odd considering that he was upside down.

If there was one thing that Sakura hated, it was sarcasm, if anyone were to ask her she would say that people should be more outspoken and bumptious, like her. If anyone asked her, she would say that people needed to speak be more assertive, but no ever asked her, especially not Sasuke.

Naruto definitely didn't want to ask the pink-haired kunoichi anything, as far as he was concerned he could go on perfectly without ever hearing her voice. But sadly that was not the case.

Naruto began clapping. "What are you clapping for?"

"You actually know what cryptic means, good job."

"Shut up."

"Or else what?"

She growled, showing him the vivid white of her teeth, a few seconds past, followed by a few more as the awkwardness built up. Naruto then burst out laughing.

"Well, if you don't have a comeback, at least tell someone so that other people can get on with their lives." Admitting defeat, Sakura just stuck her tongue out--real mature like-- and gave Naruto a quick huff, followed by the finger before she turned her head back down. He could only stare in amazement, wow, she was quite the character today.

However, Sakura quickly forgot about him, for her head once again was inclined but this time her eyes were on Kakashi. "Hey Kakashi-sensei."

This time he looked away, glancing at his only female pupil. "Yes Sakura?" That was funny, to Naruto's ears Kakashi actually sounded a bit like a sensei when he answered her, answering in that tone of voice that made his voice rise a few octaves before smoothly coming back down. Maybe that was the porn and maybe he was just giggling his reply out. He hated it when he giggled like that.

"Why do you read that porn?" Kakashi's eye popped open, going completely white and he sweat dropped. Naruto burst out laughing yet again; for once Sakura actually had a good question!

Kakashi lucidly, scratched the back of his head, "W-what do you mean, this is _not_ porn."

"So then why do you always giggle while you read it?"

Kakashi stayed silent for a while, his eye made a full loop around in its socket before coming to a stop, he was thinking.

"Because these novels have proven time and time again to be wonderful journeys through the worlds of drama, violence, and most of all comedy." Sakura stared at him, Naruto could see the sweat drop growing larger every second she kept those green eyes locked on him, but a few seconds later she shrugged and turned her head back down, resting the giant rock of a cranium she had in between her two palms.

"I still say it's porn," she muttered.

Naruto closed his eyes and nodded, _that_ was a very nice save. However Kakashi couldn't save himself from what he was about to do. He may have been able to bamboozle Sakura but not him for he had a bird's eye view.

From where he was hanging, Naruto could clearly see the text of Kakashi's "novel" and without warning Naruto began reading.

"'Shouta-kun, wait, let's not do it here, w-we could get caught.' Mio said hesitantly, her words were cut off when his finger's breach through pants, disappearing between her legs."Naruto said dramatically, he stuck one arm out and brought the other, which could now move, to his heart for affect.

"I-I know Mio-chan, but I just... can't stand it anymore!" He yelled, when she tried to protest he covered her mouth, drawing her into a deep kiss and she shivered against him." Sakura jerked her head back up, banging it against the trunk behind her, her face set ablaze by a florid blush.

It took Kakashi a second to realize just what Naruto was saying; at first he thought, "hey why does that seem so familiar" but then he gasped, realizing that those were the same words in his porn..ah novel. He was so engrossed in the text that he didn't notice Naruto reading it aloud.

He closed the book, with a dry thud, and glared at Naruto. Then he sensed something, slowly he looked down, and he knew exactly what it was that he was sensing. Looking at Sakura's frowning red face Kakashi stifled out a nervous chuckle.

Both Sakura and Naruto stuck their fingers out, pointing and said: "You pervert!"

Naruto glanced at his teammate, that was the first thing that they had agreed on since they had been together as comrades.

Kakashi, scratched the back of his head yet again. Truthfully, he had no clue what to say to that, he couldn't really defend himself, after all he _was_ giggling while reading this stuff.

As Kakashi feared the worst two feet crashed down in front of them, followed by the sound of coarse breathing. Kakashi silently thanked the heavens for giving him such a convenient distraction, but by the way that this distraction was glaring at certain blond boy lead Kakashi to think that he should have been thanking Naruto instead of the heavens.

"Hey Sasuke, what took you so long?"

"Naruto, I'll kill you!"

To say Sasuke looked pissed was an understatement, Kakashi glanced, slowly moving from Naruto and then back to Sasuke. He shot them both a question expression.

"Am I missing something here?" Kakashi asked, the question was mostly directed at Naruto however. The Uchiha boy's clothes, in tatters; his face, a mess, covered in a mass of red. Most of it lipstick (hopefully), except for the one unpleasant scratch running diagonally across his nose running from the end of his eye to the midpoint of his cheek. On his shirt and shorts were large, almost unmistakable cuts in the fabric, Naruto raised an eyebrow to that.

_'What were they trying to do, tear his clothes off with kunai? But then again, they're fan girls, that's not all that unbelievable.' _Before he knew it, a pink blur shot up in front of his face, almost hitting him in the nose and rushed over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! W-what happened, a-are you okay?"

"Get off!" Sasuke said, shoving her away. She was just like the other ones, that was just a clever little excuse to touch him. "Naruto, you'll pay!"

Naruto just laughed at that.

As if...

Kakashi looked at him, "Care to explain?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, not really but I will anyway and I think that I'll sum it all up with two words, I think Sakura's familiar with this term," he paused, "Fan girls."

Kakashi groaned, shaking his head, "You know Sasuke you've got to be more careful when walking around.

Sasuke didn't say anything, no, he was too concentrated on what he was about to do right now. He shoved past Kakashi and met Naruto, face to upside down face. His fist jutted back, his teeth clenched tightly, Naruto was vulnerable. Sasuke's fist collided with Naruto's face pushing him back, causing the boy to do an odd version of a semi back flip before he landed on his stomach.

Sasuke left his fist hanging in the air, his mouth open, still not believing that he... actually hit him. Naruto slowly got up and rubbed his face, "Ow, but not quite." In a spontaneous expulsion of smoke and sound, the Naruto that stood before him was gone. Sasuke mentally cursed the creator of the kage bunshin technique; he actually thought that he had gotten him too, that was what was so bad about it, he had been fooled by a clone.

The leaves above him rustled and before he could react, Naruto dropped down, little green leaves coming with him, and he grabbed Sasuke's hand and twisted it until it was behind his back. He shoved him into the trunk of the tree and chuckled, "Ah, and here I thought that you of all people would be able to get out of being thrown into a crowd of girls, guess I was wrong," he said before he cocked his hand back, open palmed. His hand lunged forth but it stopped, a considerable amount of resistance stopping him in his tracks.

He turned to see Kakashi holding him by his collar, his other hand occupied with his now open porn, he didn't even glance at the Naruto, his eyes were glued to Icha Icha. "That's enough Naruto," he said neutrally, although Naruto could tell that he was serious.

Geez, what was the big deal? He was just going to slap the back of his neck. Giving up, Naruto sighed and let Sasuke go and twisted out of Kakashi's grip.

"Good," he said, "Now that you are all here, I want to start immediately. If you all remember, I did say that we would be doing a bit more training once we got back. So..." he trailed off for a moment to slip his porn back into his pocket, "... you're going to learn how to climb a rock."

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, her hands on her hips.

"I'll show you." Kakashi said walking past them, he threw his hand in the air and motioned for them to follow him.

In a few seconds they had crossed about half the clearing; that was were Kakashi stopped. He turned to them, taking in each of their expressions. "Now for the rocks," he said, his hands combining in order to flash through a set of barely perceptible hand seals. He slammed the ground, for a moment nothing happened, but then two large pillars of dark brown stone erupted out of the grounds, rising until they blocked out the sun, casting two long shadows that ran all way until they linked with the shade of the trees behind them.

Kakashi turned around, Sakura and Sasuke had their head turned up, their bottom lips hanging open at the thought of trying to climbing one of those things and actually failing. Calmly Kakashi said, "Sakura, Sasuke, climb these."

"What?" Sakura asked.

"I'm guessing that there's some sort of trick to it?" Sasuke asked not missing a beat.

"Exactly, let me demonstrate...," he then paused, "Naruto I believe you know what I'm going to do, you should show them as well."

Naruto sighed, "Must I?" Kakashi nodded and Naruto simply shrugged and walked over to second pillar. He glanced back his two teammates eyes still aimed at the tips of the unnaturally high pillars. "Pay attention!" he snapped and both their heads came back down in a harsh motion. "See that's why you guys are as weak as you are, you don't pay attention."

"Naruto, that's not necessary."

"My bad," he said aligning one foot vertically with the stone, "but its true. Pay attention now." Naruto, with a small grunt, boosted himself up onto the rock with practiced grace and began walking, up. Kakashi had mirrored his actions and once the both of them had reached the top of the pillars he placed his hands near his mouth.

"It pretty simple once you get the hang of it!" he yelled down to them.

Naruto then turned his head at Naruto, his expression was nothing short of unsurprised. "You're a horrible sensei, you know that right?" He said. Kakashi only chuckled at his joke.

"Yeah yeah, I'll explain it to them once we get down." Kakashi replied waving his hand up and down. He then hopped down, hitting the ground softly. Naruto however, chose to stay up there, he sat down and crossed his legs, resting his head on his palm.

He could barely hear Kakashi loosely explaining the gist of the exercise that so many ninja have dub "tree climbing" to his two students. He looked on with an expression of boredom.

Another wave of nausea hit him, his face twisting, and coming with it was the strangely robust screech of crunching metal. This feeling came stronger than it did before, almost enough to cause him to loose his balance and fall, but then just as quickly as it came, it changed. A warm feeling coursing through his veins, it felt so good, he felt so empowered.

And just like that it was gone. That was what Kinkou's chakra did to him, Konton's chakra caused him to go insane while his brother's power gave him...

Well Naruto didn't really have a name for it, all he knew was that he liked it and that it liked him. It was from now on to be his nostrum, his cure-all. The powerful sensation of power swam all through him, it ensnared him, it bathed his tongue, filled his belly, saturating his very being.

He loved it.

"Naruto, aren't you coming down?" Kakashi asked, bringing him back to reality, he found it troubling to part with pleasant touch of power but he knew that he shouldn't get used to it. Power like this could quickly consume him and ultimately be his demise. Naruto answered back.

"I think that I'll stay up here, I'll give whoever comes up to the top a high five." He said playfully. He could see that both Sakura and Sasuke had two kunai in their hands as they both made their way to their respective pillars. Naruto smiled, he never would have thought that this would happen. It appeared that Sasuke had chosen the pillar that he was sitting on as he tree to climb. An amused chuckle made its way out of his lips.

Now he could have some fun.

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Wow, I'm done. Well I hope that you guys like this chap, I'm pretty sure I did.

Now that the boring crap is over and done with, I shall be getting on with a portion of the fic that is much more interesting. There will be action, yes, and there will be an appearance of a certain character that a lot people have come to love, or hate, whichever.

I won't say that person's name but I'm pretty sure everyone know's who I'm talking about.

So anyway I hope to get some useful feedback for this story, in the form of reviews, and I hope that I get a lot of feedback. Oh and I'm like super-happy right now, and if anyone wants to know, then I'll tell you.

If nobody has noticed, my review count has just breached past a certain number, yup, that's right, I have gotten past four hundred reviews. It actually happened quicker than I anticipated and for that I thank you all. And if you guys leave a review, which I hope you do, keep in mind my motto. "Constructive criticism not unnecessary insults."

Okay next thing before I go. Now I'm at four hundred and two reviews, I am hoping that you guys can get anywhere between four hundred and twenty and four hundred and thirty, yeah, I'd like that.

Anyway.

Top five reviewers:

Leaf Ranger

Weasal

Sir MIDNIGHT The DarkSlayer

NeroSparda

MrTech713

You guys already know what I'll say but just in case you forgot, I'll sum it up in one word...or is it two words? Or does it count as one compound word...i dunno...

Anyway: BADASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yeah, I luvs me my exclamation points)

Latr and Thanx

Next Chapter: Fight the Power

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	18. Fight the Power

Yeaaah boiiii

Alright, it's about time I got this chapter up and running. Lately I've been rushing with my chapters, but this chapter, I decided to take things nice and slow and make up my mind about certain things going on in the story. My mind has been all over the place lately, what with all the things going on in my life and whatnot and frankly its been affecting the quality of my chapters, and I am so not happy about that one bit.

So you know what I'm going to bounce back from my fall in quality; I really don't know what that means for me but it's got to mean something cool, right. Oh and a couple of you guys may have noticed it, that the writing styles that I use for both my stories are completely diverging in terms of structure and vocabulary, some have even said that it feels like reading a story from a completely different author, I would just like to say that I want to keep it that way.

I'm keeping things concise and pithy here so....

Enjoy Mutha Fuckas

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Sacred Mark of The Rising Kekkei Genkai

The rain falls, and they bask in it only to get wet

For Sasuke, constantly running up a hardened pillar of earth day in and day out was a bother in every sense of the word, and personally, it just wasn't his style. He was used to trying things out only once or twice and memorizing them, never to forget them again. But that wasn't the case with tree climbing, apparently learning how to climb was the only thing that stood between him and his progression. Spending weeks outside, constantly dashing up a slab of earth, letting the blistering sun do damage to his skin just so he could get it down. Although today he did wish the sun would show its stupid little blazing face. If there was one thing that Sasuke hated more than too much sun it was too much rain.

He knew it and he accepted it, he was a mass of contradiction and frankly he didn't care. All he cared about was learning how to gracefully glide up the side of tree, or stone pillar, or even a building. He didn't care how he knew it as long as he knew how to do it he would be content, but then again he _had _to know it perfectly. Once again, he was a mass of contradiction, most Uchiha were.

But then again, most Uchiha had already activated their Sharingan around this age, his brother had done it earlier than this. He had yet to flash his eyes red and on the inside it was eating him up, on the outside he was the same indifferent, aloof heart throb that almost every girl within the village wanted. Not that he cared about that last part.

A single globular droplet of water splashed down onto Sasuke's face as he looked up into the sky. Another coming down with the rest of its kin planted itself right into his eye and he blinked, glancing down for a moment but his gaze came back up. Great, now the rain was coming.

He crouched low, spreading his fingertips so that they lightly touched the ground in front of him, the soil was beginning to get spongy. He fingers sank in a little bit, unctuously slipping through the dirt. He glanced to his left, he knew Kakashi was right there, watching, waiting, whether it be him or his prized Icha Icha slop was not in Sasuke's best interest. As long as the man saw it, he would be happy, but he had to pay complete attention to his student. More contradiction.

His feet and fingers ripped through the ground, leaving the tips brown with mud. The wind lightly whipped his face as his body accelerated, sensing the gain in speed, Sasuke whipped his arms out behind him, one of them know gripping a kunai. He didn't slow down as he switched from horizontal to vertical travel, he just pushed more chakra into his soles. Running up a pillar of stone like this everyday could make a person subject to vertigo, or at least make them treasure gravity a bit more. _'Almost there Sasuke. Keep going.' _He thought to himself as he steadily approached the top of the pillar.

Underneath his foot he could feel something lessen, the earth was crumbling. _'Too much!' _He spat in his mind as he drastically reduced the flow of chakra to his feet, almost slipping up in the process. Maintaining a certain level of chakra in your feet wasn't all that hard, however maintaining it while trying not to deliver a nimeity of it was pretty difficult. The sharp drop in chakra caused him to slid back, rather, down the pillar before coming to an abrupt stop a couple feet from his previous position. Great, lost distance in this situation, his worst nightmare. The cohesion came back under his sandals and he shot himself back up. However judging by the volatile spikes of chakra in his feet, it appeared that he would be needing that kunai pretty soon.

Onward, ever onward, or at least until he lost control and fell.

-----

-----

Larxene blinked, where was she? For starters, it was unusually cold, so cold that her breath was actually visible. She looked left, nothing and then she looked to the right, once more nothing, just black. Dreams often entered a person's mind as a manifestation of their memories, like a place where that person had been, an empirical experience, no matter how fantastic or chimerical a dream may have appeared in ones mind, there was always a trace of memory bent up in there. It could have been something small like seeing a person that they knew or something much more up scale, like re-living an entire experience that occurred some time in the past.

If that was true and dreams all held a scintilla of memory in them, then why was it that this dream was so... bland. It was bizarre yes, but it was also boring, there was nothing here but pitch black. What in her memories could be elucidating itself into this nondescript canvas of darkness. She was surrounded by it, it was everywhere, following closely behind her, beside her, in front of her. Like it was her shadow.

The small sense that she was falling disoriented her, that was weird she had never seen anything like this yet it felt so familiar. "Hello?" Her voice resonated throughout the entirety of this enclosed darkness, echoing until it faded away dully. "Is a-anyone there?"

This time her voice echoed even harder, it made the hairs on her neck stand on end and her consternation wasn't helping either. When was the last time she had been afraid like this, most of the time when she was afraid something like this was her sanctuary, naturally, the shadows kept her safe. But these shadows felt different, the were larger, much larger, destructive and expansive, while at the same time benevolent.

These shadows had something to give to her, she knew not what it was but.... she wanted it, at least she thought that she wanted it, whatever _it_ was.

But one thing was known, these were shadows and with her, all shadows could be bent to her will, even these.

Larxene reached out, touching the stark blackness, surprisingly, it moved to her will. Her assumptions were correct, these shadows were like every other, bendable, resourceful. For a dream this really did feel, well, real. The overbearing chill on her half nude form, the strong pull of gravity, all of it was so realistic. She didn't mind it, dreams often felt real.

With her hands she wedged her palms, "Come on open." She grunted as she spread the shadows apart. Her eyes couldn't get any wider than they just had. She was looking down into these shadows, behind, well below them was the smooth looking structure of a desert. The sanguine light of a red moon lit the sand, with the red light the desert to be on fire with infernal light "What... is this plac-" gravity cut her words short as it hit her full force, plunging her down through the hole.

"What the hell is going-" something else stopped her this time. Two strong arms, wrapping themselves around her, squeezing her tight like a newly won plush doll to a child. She winced as she heard a voice call her name, she paid no attention though, her mind completely engrossed by the strangely spectacular landscape before her.

"Larxene." She blinked.

"Larxene." She blinked again, this time actually trying to break free of whosoever's arms were embracing her. She was frantic, scared to death and honestly, had no clue just what the hell was going on. The voice came louder this time.

"Lar-chan!" She blinked a third time, her jostling stopped, she recognized the voice. Barely turning her head, she glanced over her shoulder, a blond bush of hair burying his nose into the base of her neck. She was back in Naruto's room.

She felt the crook of his nose slide up her neck, nearing her ear, he spoke quietly and with concern. "You were mumbling in your sleep, is everything okay?"

She looked away but his arms gripped tighter when she didn't response. "Tell me." He said softly.

After a long sigh, she succumbed to his will.

"I-I had this really weird dream-" she began, but she didn't say anything further. Naruto only sighed, what he had seen was completely different. When he woke up, Larxene was literally sinking into the bed, using the shadows as her quicksand. At the time, the only thing he could think of was to wrapped his arms around her and pull her out, not to mention wake her up. In the back of his head he heard Kyuubi's voice.

**"Naruto-kun, its this girl's weapon again, something is wrong with her power, I can feel it, the realm she commands is yearning for her to know of its existence." **

_'So the shadow realm itself is trying to bring Larxene there?' _Naruto asked sceptically, he increased his grip even more.

**"Well a dog does yearn for its master to come and play with it." **Damn, that was a good answer, sometimes he hated the way Kyuubi did that, his logic was _too _ancient. Naruto only accepted his answer with a slight nod, Kyuubi may have been onto something, after all Larxene had no idea about what her power was, as for as she knew, it was the manipulation of shadows. If only she knew.

"N-naruto, why are you hugging me so hard?"

"Hm....?" He loosened it a bit, not wanting to let go. In his train of thought he hadn't noticed it, but his grip had been steadily increasing on Larxene's frame, not because she was half naked in nothing but a long t-shirt and panties but because he was concerned. He didn't know anything about the shadow realm, neither did she. Initially he withheld the secret about her power in order to keep her in check, in case she ever betrayed him. Back then if she knew that she had sovereignty over the entire shadow realm, then she might have tried to escape, but there was no chance of her doing that now. So it was safe to tell her, right?

He contemplated the idea, it didn't sound too appealing in his perspective but she deserved to know at least this much.

"N-naruto, didn't you hear me?" She asked once more, she squirmed but Naruto didn't let go, he just loosed until she stopped moving.

"Yeah I heard you, my bad, but-," he thought about telling her for a moment, "-can you tell me more about that dream of yours."

At first there no response, quickly he glanced out the window, the light of an obscured sun barely shining through onto his bed, the sun was out but it still rained. "I'd rather not," she said, her pithy statement made him want to grip her tighter, she was really bothered by that dream and he knew it. She gasped as he intertwined his legs with hers, his bare chest now a part of her back and he squeezed harder.

"Please?" With Naruto hugging her like this she guessed that she felt a little better; he was trying to making her feel even better, she knew it. But right now her reluctance was a bit smothering, no amount of cuddling could make her talk, even if it turned her on.

Haku laid behind him, clutching onto his back, seemingly oblivious to the world around her, he never noticed it before but Haku was really heavy sleeper. At least she didn't snore, although it was annoying when he wanted to get out of the bed in the middle of the night. Honestly it should never take a person ten minutes to leave the bed. She muttered something about Naruto in Naruto's ear and giggled, that was cute she was sleep-talker.

Naruto sighed, Larxene was too perturbed at the moment to speak, he'd respect that, but that doesn't mean he would give up. "Alright fine but, you have to tell me about it eventually, alright?"

She nodded, digging back into him a bit further. "Alright."

They settled into a comfortable silence, and to be honest, Naruto thought it felt good. He really didn't do things like this with Larxene, usually Haku was the one who cuddled with him, as if the giggling mass latched onto his back wasn't a constant reminder of that already. When it came to Larxene, he mostly teased her, but this was different, it was okay.

Much to his displeasure someone banged on the door, a clone should have been enough to kill them right?

The door squeaked dryly as Sakura stumbled inside with a startled shriek. Looking around, the place was small but, man, it was clean. The furniture was simple, it was neatly arranged in a family setting, the floors looked like they had just been polished. This wasn't what she was expecting. She yelled out, glancing at a clock on the wall, it was nine-thirty, Naruto should have been up by now.

Why Sasuke had so strongly insisted that she be the one to come here from now on instead of him was mystery, hopefully Naruto hadn't done anything to him that last time, maybe it had something to do with why he was all battered up a couple weeks ago.

"Naruto, your door is busted!" She yelled out, no answer came back. She frowned. "Naruto, are you-" Sakura held her tongue when she heard someone's giggles coming from a room a little off to her left. "What was that?"

Inside Naruto grimaced, okay, it wasn't cute anymore, Haku's sleep-talking was now an inconvenience. In Larxene's ear he whispered, "just pretend to be asleep, I'll deal with her." And he got up.

Sakura cocked her head to the side, hearing the loud shifting in the bedroom and she stalked closer to the door, her hand gripping the knob loosely. It swung open suddenly, to her misfortune, she ended up falling in. Naruto was next to her, leaning on the door, nothing but a pair of black pants on. The first thing he noticed was that her hair was slicked down, reflecting unnatural amounts of light, tiny spheres of water still clinging to some of the loose bangs hanging off her head.

"You're wet," Naruto said chuckling a bit hysterically.

Sakura rose to her feet, glaring at Naruto, "Well that's what happens when you're in the rain for too long," she grabbed a large portion of hair and squeezed, draining her pink locks free of excess moisture.

"Hey don't get my carpet wet and why are you here anyway?" He said still chuckling.

Sakura paused to breath, hunching onto her knees. Naruto only saw it as a clear indicator as to why he vowed to never let himself get out of shape, despite the tons of ramen he ingested daily. "Kakashi-sensei asked me to come and get you," she said Kakashi told her but it was really Sasuke and judging by the look Naruto was giving her, he already knew.

"I won't be training with you guys today, I've something else to attend to." For a moment, his eye wandered over to Larxene, who in his opinion was doing great job of pretending.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, her tone a bit apprehensive. Her eyes nervously flicked toward his bed where Haku, who apparently enjoyed showing her skin, and Larxene were. Naruto just scowled, he palmed her shoulders and began leading her out of his room. She would have complained about it but decided against it, Naruto could be pretty scary at times. It always made her think back to her academy school days, how back then he was hardly a threat, now he was the last person she wanted to piss off. If he ever wanted to get revenge on her for the many times she physically abused him back then, she would be in trouble.

"Yes, I'm sure and now I think you should leave." He said as he lead her through his apartment, shoving her through the door.

"But-" Naruto's door slammed unceremoniously in Sakura's face. She looked away, her shoulders slumped down, it was going to be a long run back to the training ground.

-----

-----

Training in the rain was never fun, the only thing it ever lead to was mud stains and wet hair, not Larxene's idea of fun, especially not the hair part. Still she was doing it, Naruto's insistence that she train with him wore her down. Insistence wasn't really the word for Naruto's pleading, it was more like his yanking her out of the bed against her will. If she had refused to change, she would bet that he would have changed her himself, not that she was against it,the thought.

But this was still annoying.

Naruto stood across from her, arms folded with his left sandal planted down in shallow puddle of brown muddy water. He really didn't understand the complexities of a girl's mind, rain and hair didn't mix, rain and newly acquired attire didn't mix either.

Her new outfit consisted of a dark purple battle kimono, similar to Haku's, the only difference was that it was much smaller--and tighter--and had a shorter cut to it that stopped mid thigh. Tying it together was a black obi at her waist, that left her legs which were garbed in black leggings that came up to her knees. She thought it look cute on her, Naruto seemed to like it.

She sighed, the rain fell profusely putting little dark blots on his shoulders. "Naruto, is this the "something else" that you needed to attend to?" Her tone was easily made out as annoyed, no doubt she was still tetchy from the dream.

Naruto simply got into a low crouch, extending his arms out in front of her, the grimy mud sliding as he slid his foot through it. "Yes, train with me, you and you only, after all you're a chunin now, and I'd love to get lessons from my superiors." He pointed at her hitae-ite which rested on her neck. In his mind Kyuubi tapped his shoulder.

**"Are you sure Naruto, what with those odd fluctuations in the shadow realm, we don't know what making her use her power will do." **

Naruto only nodded, he was as sure as he hair was blond. _'Well we won't know if we find out.' _Kyuubi remained silent. Cuddling wouldn't get him anywhere but doing the exact opposite would definitely work.

"Naruto, I-I really don't want to fight right now. Besides can't you ask Haku, she became a chunin as well." She could see that his eyes narrowed.

"Well, if you won't fight-," his body shot forth, "-then I'll just have to make you fight," he said from behind her. He threw out a back hand, which she ducked narrowly and responded by thrusting her foot out, aiming it at his stomach. To her surprise, he clutched her foot. "Fight me seriously." He said, his face shrouded by a veil of impassiveness.

"I am!" She practically snarled her words out, surprising her more than it should have; her orotund burst of speech was followed by her sharply pushing off the ground while at the same time twisting by her waist. Her free leg turned with her waist, Naruto was keeping an unusually soft grip on her foot allowing for her quick rotation to even set into motion, and was about to smack into the side of his face.

Her kick came swiftly, a few inches from his face, but just as she was about to make contact one hand shot up and clamped down on her other foot's ankle, bringing her to an abrupt stop. Her back fell to the mud, and she growled, but that wasn't what she was angry. Really she didn't know why, but she had the strangest feeling that Naruto was doing this on purpose.

"Fight seriously!" This time he yelled it, her eyes widened a small amount but quickly settled down. He let go of her ankles, letting them hit the dirty slop on the ground. She growled rolling back onto her feet into a knee, rapid footsteps told her that Naruto was moving in again. Without looking, she pushed off the ground hoping that a blind uppercut would catch him off guard. Tactics like that usually never worked and this time wasn't an exception, Naruto sidestepped her fist and slipped through her guard with a knee that pounded into her stomach.

She gasped for air, but that failed when Naruto spun, and with the same leg heeled her head to the ground. He cringed, he couldn't imagine how much pain that was, but no amount of pain could measure to the current pain he was feeling right now when he just did that. It was unorthodox and barbaric, he knew it, but this was probably the only way to get her to look past her fear of using her weapon and draw it out.

"Larxene, use it, you can't rely on your taijutsu only." Her response was to have his leg viciously shoved to the side, a foot bashing into his chin. He had trouble looking down with her shoe underneath his chin, that wouldn't matter though. Larxene smoothly allowed her foot to fall and she spun while rising to her feet in one fluid motion, her next motion would be a punch that sent Naruto flying back.

Her face was covered in mud, part of it staining her hair "dirty" blond. Naruto flipped back and sliding to a stop on his hands but before he could do anything else Larxene's foot swept him back into his prior horizontal position. Larxene was already at work, pounding away at his torso, one chakra enhanced punch launching him into the air.

"Naruto, what exactly are you trying to do?" She snarled as she rapidly performed a series of hand seals. Naruto really didn't remember her using ninjutsu before, frankly he thought that she preferred to stick with her shadows, considering the circumstances though, this was easily not the case. "Raiton: Raikyuu!"(Lightning release: lightning ball) Larxene surged chakra into two extended fingers, at the tip a small blue ball crackled with electricity. "Are trying to get me angry?"

"What I'm trying to do Lar-chan, is... ," he stopped for a moment, "Yes, I am trying to get you mad!" She snarled before launching an enlarged ball of electricity at him. He crossed his fingers, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A two clones formed, one below him, the other above, he used the first clones head as a means of launching himself higher in the air, where the second caught him, twirled, and launched him like a bullet.

Larxene quickly launched two more ball of crackling light but they failed to hit their mark. He could feel his hairs stand on end while the two balls surged past him. He went into a quick roll and stuck his foot out.

Larxene just barely jumped out of the way when Naruto came crashing down, the cloud of dust that he kicked up prevented her from seeing anything but his tiny shimmering silhouette. Her eyes widened as the silhouettes multiplied and a dozen clones flew out of the smoke, their arms outstretched.

She cleanly dispatched the first two, hitting one with knee to the face, followed by a spinning back hand, but during her rotation a clone latched to her shoulder, before she could react two more tackled her, roughly scraping her by the sides with passing punches and kicks. She managed to get rid of the one holding her by means of flipping him over but it proved to be in vain as the rest of the clones quickly jumped her, drowning her in a dog pile of clones.

The dust cleared and Naruto, the real Naruto, was standing at the edge of a small four foot crater, his arms crossed. He glanced at his shoulder and lazily wiped off a small amount of debris left over on his shoulder. That should have done it, she should have been angry right now, but just in case. "Lar-chan, stop playing, use them, use your shadows!" He said, perhaps a little bumptiously; it was necessary though.

He waited for a response, his clones viciously jostled and thrashed about yelling and cursing each other out. His eyes widened a bit in an attempt to force down a frisson, his emotional thrill that lasted for about a second had been induced by the sound of one of his clones dispersing. The small wisp of smoke withering away was yet another indicator.

"You want it, you got it!" Several dark tendrils shot out of each of his clones backs, causing them all to turn to vapor in an uproar of harmonious pops. When the smoke withered away, he couldn't see Larxene, just a black patch of shadow on the ground. He smiled, realizing that he had finally gotten her to bend to his will. The patch of shadow distorted for a second before a black hand rose out and shot itself at him.

"Shit!" He yelled as he activated his geostigma and extended his arms. As the shadowy hand neared Naruto upturned his palms, and the ground underneath him shot up as a pillar ascending quickly into the air. The wind gently caressed the back of his neck as he flew up word, with a facing down of his palms the pillar stopped rising. He looked down at the hand, unsurprisingly, it changed its course and was now charging at him vertically.

While waiting for it to approached there was something that Naruto notice, Larxene's control over the shadows was unusually powerful right now, he had never seen her use something like that before, it was exhilarating while at the same time terrifying. He prepared himself with what was to come, breathing in deeply before gently leaning off the pillar.

He dove like an eagle about to catch its pray, angling his body in order to decrease wind resistance. Just as the fingers of the dark hand open wide preparing to crush him, Naruto pulled his foot back and square shaped slap of rock shot out of the side of the pillar. His feet hit it hard just as thrust himself forward and out of the way of the hand, just as it came rushing past. The heat from the shadow burning his back.

_'Kyuubi, can you feel anything weird in her chakra, besides that its flaring.' _

**"No but I do sense something in her shadows, something potent." **

_'That's not good.' _It was then that Zen decided to speak.

_"Idiot, how can you not notice, her shadows, they are for some reason, concentrated!"_Naruto's eyes widened, he felt it now, he didn't notice before but now that Zen pointed it out to him, he could tell that his other half spoke the truth. He felt it, that insane rush, that was probably the reason for him getting so excited when he first saw he use her shadows. There wasn't a lot of it but there was just enough for him to notice.

"You'll have to do better than that" he said as he flipped over and from his two palms shot out two flickering jets of fire, pushing him further away from the darkness.. As he expected, Larxene came after him, shooting her own body out of the shadow. She pressed her palms together and two dark tendrils lashed out at him, he was hard pressed to evade the lethal tentacle like weapons. He winced as one of them scraped his side, it was only a tiny cut but the burning that came with it made it all the worse, like poison seeping into his system.

To Larxene's surprise he started laughing, that only got her angrier. She landed on the ground, kneeling down. "Laugh at this!" She pressed her hands together, "Kuro Shipuu!" (Black Hurricane) Naruto forced down a gasped as the previous shadow that was in the shape of a hand had lost form and begun to spin around both he and Larxene. It look a bit gale-like, almost as if the shadow had turned itself into black wind. "Naruto, how dare you. You're going to pay, you won't be able to get out of this without getting hurt!"

He needed to end this. Because of her little technique, everything was shrouded by a shadow, even the ground look several shades darker than it should have. Naruto crossed his arms, his geostigma flashed instinctively, and he blew out two tongues of fire from his palms again, sending them out in an X-shaped pair of flaring blades.

Larxene acted quickly sending out two blades of darkness herself, watching as the two forces clashed, canceling each other out. Naruto then burst through the dying flames and shadows, he came down quicker than Larxene had been able to react. He crashed a heel onto her shoulder, but grimaced when she began to sink into a shadow beneath her, throwing him off balance, but he quickly recovered from it and grabbed Larxene by the nape of her clothing, he pulled her back out.

This was it, this was what he wanted to see. Naruto looked down into the dark portal into the ground and along with Larxene, who was struggling to free herself of his grip, jumped down into it.

"What are you doing?"

As they were immersed in a sea of darkness her only answer was a firm tug followed by the soft collision into Naruto's chest, his arm wrapped around her defensively. Although she could not see him all that well she could tell that he was looking at her with those bright, strong blue eyes of his. She only wished she could see them because as of right now she was confused, and she wanted more protection than just an arm around her.

All Larxene could do was keep quiet and wait.

------

------

The night's air was thin, cold, lifeless; as it always was outside of Castle Saiki. Not a sound of life could be heard, they were never heard, such things did not exist to be heard anyway. But to say that the sounds of life were never heard, technically, would be an incorrect statement. Although there were no animals to spark up the night with their florid chatter, there was usually always the sound of that lone Saiki member's footsteps who decided to go for a walk every now and then.

Today, Lark was the one to go for that walk. The pale, if not ominous, moonlight lit the right side of his face while he walked slowly on the sandy grey shore. In his opinion the water shined with unusual effulgence today, the almost always dead water actually sparkled tonight.

He drew his head away, avoiding it's crystalline luster. Now wasn't the time to be admiring the sea.

The sound of nearly indiscernible sand-silenced footsteps made him turn his head. Roland was walking up to him, his hood flipped down this time. That wasn't like him at all, he usually loved hiding his face, for what reason Lark didn't know. Despite his obsession with _not_ being seen, Roland still called him of all people out and asked him to meet him here.

"What's this all about Roland?" Lark asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

Roland, the sandy brown-haired, black-eyed man garbed in black laughed and clapped his hands once creating a loud pop.

"Lark, I shall get to the chase," he reach behind his head and flicked his long tan locks. Lark just scoffed, he could be such a pretty boy. "I wish to discuss something with you, something that I plan to withhold from Lord Zexin-sama's ears. Will you agree to converse with me?"

Lark narrowed his eyes, "If you are to not tell Zexin, then surely it must be something important, if not, treacherous. You should understand that because of your words, I will approach this conversation apprehensively." Roland only smiled.

"Then is that a yes." Lark nodded, although a bit hesitantly. "Good then, it might please you to know that this matter greatly concerns someone you deeply care for, a certain sister of yours." Lark froze, feeling ice encase his insides. After a period of withheld breath he exhaled.

"What of her?" His tone was slightly more feral. He hung his hands limply at his sides, giving the impression of battle-readiness.

"Thanks to Zabuza, we all know that she's is alive and well, even more she is fighting against us now. But there is something that I seem to have noticed, something else that pertains to her... special power." He cupped one of his elbows, vacantly tapping on the side of his opposite arm; his feet set in motion as he began pacing circles around Lark. "Her special power, her inner weapon, you do recall that I have the direct link to every Saiki member's inner weapon, even yours, and while I may not be able to alter them I am certainly able to monitor their status. Larxene's is not an exception."

It was true, he did have that link, whatever it was, so his words held some veracity, but Lark just couldn't help but feel a bit off edge because it. Even so, he needed to know what he was trying to say. Lark's hand shot out, stopping in front of Roland's chest, ending the man's pacing.

"What are getting at?" He asked. Roland was a sneaky bastard, so surely whatever it was, it could not be good.

"Today while monitoring everyone's weapons, I seem to have noticed something," he paused and smiled, "odd." He finally said cheerfully. Lark's brow rose, there was a possibility that Roland knew exactly where Larxene was, but if that was the case he would have told Zexin. But then again, he might not have, after all Zexin didn't know about this. A sneak bastard indeed.

"Odd like wha-...uhg" Lark's forehead inched back when Roland's finger came rushing in and poked him in the forehead; the crescent smile on Roland's face seemed to wrap around from ear to ear.

"Odd like abnormal chakra fluctuations produced whenever Larxene is either unconscious or asleep! Odd, yes it is, these volatile spikes of energy have been happening lately throughout this week and only when she was asleep, however today I noticed that she had an inexplicably powerful eruption of chakra and-" Roland poked Lark's head once more to annoy him, "-she was awake!"

There was no use telling him about it, Lark knew already what it was. He had known this since she discovered her power over the shadows, but he was too afraid that she would be able to handle its nocuous power. Now Roland knew about it too, although not as much, but he still had a general idea about what was going on.

"Can you tell me what it is? It may be of some use to us." Lark rose his brow at that word, "us". Since when were he and Roland friends, still it brought up a very interesting idea.

The shadow realm, which she unknowingly controlled had come to get her, he didn't know whether or not telling Roland would help or hurt him, but as of now, Roland had just called himself out as a potential ally, he already suspected to much about Larxene not to be one. Hopefully, as conniving and clever a snake that Roland was he could keep a secret... well hopefully.

"Let me ask you one thing, Roland."

"Anything!" He said before poking him once more.

Lark growled, "Okay, two things: First , can you stop poking me-," he smacked his hand away before continuing, "-and secondly can you keep a secret?"

Roland smiled, perhaps a little too grimly. "Surely."

-------

-------

"N-No way." Larxene said, her eyes were wide open, this was no dream, this was the real deal. Everything was as she saw before, the desert, the red moon, the captivating air of this place. This was all too freaky, her very own dream was coming to life, manifesting itself right before her very own eyes!

It made her think back to when she had that dream earlier in the morning; perhaps she wasn't dreaming back then either. That would explain why it felt so real to her.

Her eyes darted curiously through the red tinted sky, looking for nothing, anything actually. It wasn't until someone grunted underneath her that she looked down. Larxene never really was one to be taken by surprise but it seemed that every time Naruto unexpectedly came into her view everything changed. She yelped, jumping a bit, when her bottom landed on the firm chest that belonged to Naruto, he let out another grunt.

"G-Get of..." He said weakly, one eye was closed from the lasting effects of a recent wince. She did not react at first, still distracted by the pulchritude of this dessert. It was hard to take her eyes off it, "Wow, Lar-chan, striped panties, I like."

Maybe it wasn't that hard to take her eyes off the desert.

She quickly dug her heels in the sand, using it to push herself onto her legs, her hands warily moved to the lower hem of her kimono, obscuring the pink and white striped underwear from Naruto's eyes. As he chuckled and stood himself up, Larxene quickly recovered, drawing back the heat from her cheeks. She gazed at him seriously.

"Naruto, where are we?"

He turned, pocketing his own hands and looked up at the sky. The rain stopped, looks like it didn't reach all the way down here. "The shadow realm," he spoke it calmly. For some reason, Naruto seemed to know a lot more about this than she, his prescience was shown by his unctuous tone of voice, as if he had already been here. "But it looks different than when I first came here with you."

Well, it appeared that her hunch was right, he did know this place. Perhaps he had been here repeatedly, somehow, and-.... wait with her?

That was when Larxene realized what Naruto had just said. "What? I've never seen this place!"

"I know you haven't that's because you were unconscious at the time." He decided that he needed to elaborate when he saw her brow raise. "Think back, to when we were in wave, when we fought each other on that beach."

She _did _think about it, yeah, she thought hard but nothing came up. All she remembered was fighting Naruto and to her own personal embarrassment, losing. After he hit her with that ridiculously powerful katon technique, everything went black. Larxene gasped, her mind coming around to an important factor.

Everything went black, what happened then? She needed to know.

"Naruto, what happened _after-,_" she laced that word with extra emphasis, "-I got knocked out that day."

Naruto, did not turn around, he actually just stretched his arms beside him. "This is what happened, this place happened, this place was discovered." A bone chilling breeze past over them, that was when Naruto turned around. "Your power was discovered!"

"You are making no sense to me,' her hand gripped him by the collar, she pulled him closer, "Tell me now."

Naruto gave a relaxed nod, "As you wish, Lar-hime."

She blushed from that last part.

------

------

They aimlessly made their way walking through the desert of the shadow world thirty minutes later, Larxene's head was spinning, like it had just been thrown in a tornado and sent for a ride. There were things that she thought she needed to know, especially when they concerned her; apparently Naruto did not feel that way.

More importantly she did not know what to make of what he'd told her; whether to feel blatant anger at him withholding this information or to feel relieved that he even decided to tell her, after all he did have a good enough reason in her opinion. To protect her, coming from Naruto it was good enough reason as any.

The information was quite interesting. She had no idea of what her power truly was, thinking that her shadows were limited to only Terra-Firma territories was a big mistake on her part. But how was she supposed to know that there even was a shadow world; although given the fact that she had obtained her power by bonding with a demon, Konton, it should have been a clear indicator that such things existed.

"So why did you drag us here," she said. Her hands subconsciously fiddling with each other.

Naruto spoke without unnecessary preamble, "I was curious about this world," the back of his neck tingled and he suddenly found himself wary of her eyes. Naruto sighed, he could hold nothing back, there was really no reason to anymore. "Really, the real reason is because... I was concerned, this morning while you dreaming, I saw your body being swallowed by the shadows, I wanted to figure out more."

"Oh." Larxene said.

About five minutes of silent walking brought them to a section of the desert where the tips of dozens of buried pillars could be seen sticking out of the ground. They almost looked like trees of rock. "What is this place?" Larxene asked, the wind blew ominously, blowing dust into her face and her already dust covered hair.

"I dunno, but stay on guard, I don't know what may be in this place." Naruto replied, he inched his hands into his weapons pouch, feeling for the scroll that contained his gauntlets. He could not shake the feeling the something was watching him, it was an unmovable feeling, one that he never forgot.

A rock crumbled off one of the pillars to his right, his ear flicked at the sound; smoke erupted from his arm as he quickly summoned one gauntlet and flung it at the large pillar. Its chain clinked loudly before it smashed into the thick pillar, digging its four inch narrow claws into the rock. Unsurprisingly, the pillar crumbled, but there was something that caught their ear.

Something growled, it was more like a staccato of rapid clicks. Larxene flipped to her right, flinging two kunai at a blurring body of black zipping behind another pillar. Her two kunai sunk into the pillar's body, just missing it. Something was here, it was fast. Another series of clicks ripped through the air, followed by a snarl and before she knew it her body was tackled from above, brought down to the ground by a fairly sized snarling, clicking... thing. It's slick dark fur was the only thing she could see as she tossed and turned over with it, wrestling for freedom; after a few more rolls her back hit the sand softly. Silver eyes bore into hers and the beast licked her with its massive rough tongue, which was pretty large for its size, like sand paper against her skin. It clicked its razor sharp broken-glass shard teeth against each other, Larxene could tell from the sound that it was the source of the previous clicking, it was astonishing how quickly this thing could mash its pearly white daggers together.

Just as it opened its mouth to engulf her head it was cast off to the side, tumbling quickly before rolling to its four feet. A quadruped jet-black creature snarled and ripped Naruto's gauntlet from it slick torso, now glistening red with blood. Larxene clutched her chest, feeling her breathing steady itself.

"What is that thing?" She yelled.

"How would I know?" Naruto's voice came and left quickly as he ran past her, his one arm still wrapped by the chain of his gauntlet. The beast snarled, clicking its teeth rapidly on the gauntlet still in his mouth before yanking on it. Naruto suddenly found himself rising in the air, this thing was packing some serious power in those jaws, he was at least ten feet in the air, flying toward it.

"Crap," he spat as he pulled out his second gauntlet scroll, it wrapped around his arm and erupted in smoke. With his newly clawed arm, he swung forcefully, severing the chain still wrapped around his other arm. The metal sparked as his hand cut cleanly through, leaving the chain to fall limply to the sand like a wet noodle.

The feline creature dropped the chain and using its strong hind legs, jumped forth, its muscle rippled as it did so. Pushing its forelegs forward, extending its paws out, its sharp claws jutted from its fur. Retractable claws, very feline. Naruto collided with it, smashing his gauntlet into the hinge of its shoulder blade, its claws dug into his back and they were sent into a spinning plummet, landing in the sand with little more than a thud.

Naruto landed on its stomach while the beast, due to its body structure landed gracefully on its hind and forelegs. It dug into him, as he did into it, although its two claws were drawing a lot more blood than his one claw was. Looking up, he saw the falling form of Larxene with her feet stretched out, without a sound she landed on its head, burying it in the sand. It let out a muffled roar, Naruto seized the opportunity and ripped his gauntlet out of its shoulder. He then rolled back through the sand, rising to his feet. Larxene flipped off its head and landed in front of him, her back toward him.

"Thanks," he muttered, feeling the two tender spots on his shoulders, they stung with pain and if his sense of touch was correct, sand.

"No problem." She said before she jumped in the air, pulling her leg out before flipping forward and smashing her heel into the beast head, or that's what she would have done if it hadn't quickly burrowed its head out of the sand and jumped back onto the side of a pillar. It used its diamond tough claws to latch itself onto the side of the rock, looking down at Larxene. On its head, a section of glossy fur moved upward, was it raising its eyebrow?

"Larxene, watch it, that thing's strong." Naruto said, walking beside her." Their attention was drawn by another feral snarl, the beast slowly stalked down the pillar, its claws cracking the stone. It did not stop walking as it hit the hot sand, its claws sliding slowly back into its paws. After clicking its teeth once more in a clamorous chatter it opened its mouth.

"Did you say Larxene?" It said. It spoke, it used clear coherent speech; speech that they both could understand very clearly. Larxene began to ponder on whether or not this place was still oneiric, a dream.

It spoke, it spoke! What type of black jaguar-thing spoke English? It stalked closer, its tail flicking lucidly back and forth; it asked again. "I asked, did you say Larxene?"

Larxene was the one to answer. "Yes, I'm Larxene, what of it?" The beast only let out a small purr, bringing its left foreleg up to its chest; it dipped its streamline head down so that its muzzle touched the sand. Then it spoke.

"Master."

------

------

Naruto was seriously pissed of, his shoulders hurt and now he was talking to a freaking black jaguar-cat demon thing! Apparently it, no, he was a "denizen of the shadow realm", or so he put it. Naruto sat, his leg crossed in the sand, his chin resting against his knuckles.

"So what did you say you were again?" Naruto asked, his left brow spurring up. He winced when Larxene slapped his back, specifically his shoulder, right where his wound was. He grunted.

"Be polite," she yelled but then took a look at her fingers which were tinged pink with a small amount of Naruto's blood. "S-sorry about that."

"What...ever, just answer my question. The beast, sat on his hind legs, his back straight up with his two forelegs down in front of it, one of his small black ears flicked constantly. He growled, his quicksilver eyes centering on Naruto in annoyance; his teeth clattered loudly before he answered back. Apparently he didn't like Naruto, that didn't bother him too much, he wasn't that fond of the _thing_ either.

"I am a Plata Ojo, or silver-eye, my species gained its name as you can see comes from the noticeably striking appearance of my eyes." Like Naruto didn't know that, but he did not make anything of it. This thing was strong, if not for Larxene, he might have actually come out of that fight with a lot more than some wounds, actually he may not have walked away from that fight. He wouldn't let anyone know that anyway.

"And you say she-" he jutted his thumb at Larxene who was still standing, "-is you master."

"Naturally," it responded with another clatter of its teeth; he knew right that instant that he would not be getting used to that sound anytime soon, "After all she is the one who beckons the shadow realm itself to her will and her will alone."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Hey, Plata, how exactly did you know her name anyway?" He growled, obviously not enjoying Naruto's rude shortening of his species' name. He showed his disapproval through his exposed fangs that clattered together once more for the hundredth time in under an minute, that was really annoying.

"We are the Plata Ojo, and please call me by my name, Blodgarm. And to answer your previous question, does a dog not respond to its master's name?"

"But you're a cat."

"Not necessarily." He responded, sounding a bit dark.

"Stop, bothering Blodgarm, I want to hear more about this, besides didn't you say that you wanted to learn more about my power as well?" Naruto grunted, he could see the faint curl on Blodgarm's lips, a smile perhaps?

"Whatever, I know what I want to know, we're leaving in five minutes."

"Oh really, I don't think so, seeing as how I'm the only one who had the power to send you back." She crossed her arms over her chest, sticking her lower lip out, "let's stay for a few more minutes, please?" She was staring at him with her emerald eyes.

Naruto cringed, puppy dog eyes, on most attractive girls: cute. On Larxene: to die for. He couldn't resist those big green pools of radiance.

"S-sure, just hurry up."

-----

-----

So far Naruto had learned two things about the shadow realm: one was that it was really cold and secondly that it was _not_ desolate. The amount of species that inhabited that place was simply astonishing. There were those silver eyes, but other than that there was an interminable amount of life living there.

One species of creature that Naruto liked in particular were the Buscador or the seekers; these tall humanoid creatures, that actually resembled humans except that they had elongated ears and and fangs, not to mention ungodly pale white skin. To Naruto they looked slightly vampiric, but he thought they were cool nonetheless.

They had already met Blodgarm, and now they met Raila, a buscador, it seemed that even Larxene's presence in the shadow realm was enough to attract the denizens to her, they didn't know that she was there but they just felt that they had to come in her general direction.

She sat in the sand her eyes all stricken with excitement and zealousness. Raila knelt, holding Larxene's hands in his, much to Naruto's annoyance. He may have not been human but, he still looked like one, an incredibly pale handsome one at that. By the look on Larxene's face she was enjoying this.

"Larxene-sama, my heart is so overjoyed to hear of your arrival in our realm," he planted a soft kiss right on the back of her hand. "Now that you're here you will save us from the penury and destitution that we have lived in for so long, right?" He spoke with a suave, savory accent that Larxene seemed to enjoy, however it wasn't doing so well with Naruto.

_'Stupid pretty boy vampire thing, what's his problem hitting on her like that?' _Naruto thought eying Raila.

**"Oh what's this, are you jealous?" **Kyuubi said, practically dying of laughter.

"_Hell yeah, we are, and I would know. We're practically pissed right now!" _Naruto mentally growled, leave it to Zen to open his mouth and tell all. But he didn't want to respond to either of them so Naruto ignored them and cut their links before they could annoy him anymore.

"Uh-... save you? I'll try but I don't know h-how I can... do something like that?" She looked at Naruto, but he only scoffed, looking away. It caused her to raise and eyebrow, what was his problem?

Raila only moved in closer, "What, but you control this world don't you, surely must know how to make it more habitable, right right?" He said, leaning in closer.

"Not.... really." There was another clatter of teeth from Blodgarm.

"Leave her alone, she has only just realized her power, in time she will shape this realm to her will." The sleek-furred animal circled around Larxene once before settling next to her. Raila's strikingly blue, slitted eyes moved toward Naruto.

He pointed with one sharp finger, "Larxene-sama, I am afraid that we haven't met but who is this boy?" Raila asked. Naruto changed his mind, the Buscador were not cool at all, at least they weren't if they all acted like Raila.

"My name's Naruto, believe it. He bit his tongue. Damn, he hadn't said that phrase in what seemed like forever, why he involuntarily blurted it out just now made no sense, it angered him even.

"Believe it? Hm, I do, but tell me what is you association with Larxene-sama, are you her mate?" Raila asked.

Larxene actually squeaked at his comment, her face tinged pink, she could not believe he'd just asked something like that. She looked nervously at Naruto, who didn't say anything back for a moment, for a second she wondered if he even considered her to be his lover. Sure he'd kissed her and all but one could never be sure what they were to a person when there was another girl involved. An image of Haku flashed in her mind, clear and vivid. Did he consider her to be a "mate"?

"Yes," Naruto responded, in fact he responded it with such nonchalance that it seemed to be almost practiced. "Larxene and I are like that, she's my girlfriend." He glanced at Larxene who's mouth was agape, she suddenly felt the need to free herself of Raila's hand. Blodgarm purred.

"Girl...friend, what is this word, I've never heard of such a thing."

"In the realm of light, a girlfriend is the same as a mate," Naruto responded. Blodgarm only nodded his head. But to his surprise Raila was actually laughing, and clapping his hands.

"Surely you jest, someone like _you _can't possibly be worthy of such a beauty like Larxene-sama here." Raila swayed a free hand at Larxene, her blush was prominent.

"You want to bet?" Naruto said balling his fist; now he was pissed. He stood up, despite his injuries and walked over to Raila, grabbing him by the collar of his sand withered black cloak.

He hoisted him up to eye level, despite Larxene's pleading for him to cease his actions. But his eyes were forced open as he was thrust back, hit by the full force of Raila's clenched fist. Tucking his knees in, Naruto flipped backwards, managing to land on his feet. Raila's hand was now open, his nails slowly extending until they were about and inch longer.

"Is that a challenge?" The buscador asked.

"Maybe it is." Naruto responded. Three seconds later, they were charging at each other.

"Stop!" Larxene yelled throwing out her hand, but with her hand came a pulse of something else, she could have sworn that she felt every pore in that hand surge with energy. If that wasn't enough, a hand, literally made of sand reached out of the ground, stopping both Naruto and Raila in their tracks.

"What the hell?"

"Larxene-sama, your power is magnificent!" Raila yelled with ebullience.

She retracted her hand back, looking at it, slightly afraid. The sand lost its form and fell loosely back to the ground. "My power, I did that?" Blodgarm answer her.

"Yes, you control this world and no one else, that was your doing."

She stared at her hand with awe, the power to shape this world in any way she willed. This was her power, it felt great. Feelings of euphoria flowed through her until Raila's voice came again, breaking her out of her reverie. "Do something else Larxene-sama!"

"Hey we're not done!" Naruto yelled, but it seemed that he was now officially part of the background because apparently nobody heard him. Not even Raila. Larxene touched the sand experimentally, trying to draw back that same feeling she had, it came again better than ever. It flowed from her core, and down her arm until it touched the sand and sent it out in a small wave.

"Cool," she whispered. "This is so cool!" And truly it was, having this kind of power was magnificent, it was much more exciting than the limited power of bending shadows. In here, there were no limits, this was her playground! She felt like a little kid in a sandbox, a big sandbox.

The hot sand trickled up in a gravity defying stream, spiraling to the sky before falling down as dusty rain. Naruto looked on reluctantly, but he couldn't help but smile. To think this happened because she had a dream. He was happy for her though and now he didn't have to carry the burden of keeping her power from her anymore. So this was okay.

A warm feeling flooded through him, probably relief, but that warmth soon faded away, replaced by a constant sting on his chest. He slid his hand down his shirt, feeling the hot spot and looked down. Kinkou's seal was glowing faintly with a small buzz in the back of his head. Like a muffled out distress signal from a radio, he could here a girl's voice. His name was barely discernible.

_'N...ruto-sa....ruto-..ama, c-... ou....ear me, hey!' _His eyes swiveled left and right, searching for the source of the sound. This girl calling out to him, who was she, she sounded familiar. He then remembered what Hinata said before, they were connected. His eyes widened as the reality of what was happening donned on him, Hinata was trying to contact him, talk about a connection. Damn, he got a signal all the way down here in the shadow realm? What service was Kinkou using? Shit, screw all that Ninja-Mobile crap, he needed to get with the now network. ( And what's funny is that I actually have T-mobile)

"Lar-chan," He said, gripping at his chest. "I think that we need to leave...now!"

"B-but, why? We just got here." She asked. "I don't want to." She gave him those eyes again, but he resisted this time.

"L-Lar-chan, how dare you address her in such a disrespectful manner!" Raila barked out in his accent.

Naruto ran over and gripped her by the shoulders, he pulled down his shirt, showing her the seal. "W-what the hell is that?"

"Do you remember that time I went missing with Hinata?" She nodded, "Well we did some things and I ended up with this on me, I would explain but I'd rather do it up in the regular world and not down here, so please can we go now?" Larxene just blinked, staring at him in complete disbelief. She thought she knew everything Naruto did, that obviously wasn't the reality of things. Her eyes went over to Raila and then down to Blodgarm.

"I'm sorry, I must go now, I'll come again though. Next time, I'll make something that you can benefit from okay?" Blodgarm nodded loyally but Raila had something else in mind.

"No you mustn't leave, just because he ask you to? Is he your master or something?" But he stopped when Blodgarm growled, the disturbing clatter of his diamond shard teeth ensuing. "Fine," was all that Raila said afterward. "But do come back." He said politely before adding, "Without the extra load." His eyes centered on Naruto, for a moment before returning to Larxene.

"I will," she said, the doubt in her voice was prominent. She could keep that promise, but only partially, if she came back, it would be with Naruto. Her eyes rose to meet the red, moonlight tinged sky. Naruto tapped her shoulder.

"Ready?"

"Ready," She responded holding her arm out to the side. Naruto looked at her, confused. "Take it, grab my arm." Concentration melted down into surprise when Naruto wrapped his arm around her instead of just taking her arm, giving her a strong tug closer to him. Her face was, for better lack of the the phrase, on fire. It struck her as a bit cute, he was really _really_jealous. "G-get ready." Naruto just nodded.

The rush of energy came fast, as it... flowed between them; the experience was much different, yet the mechanics were the same. The structure traveling back from the shadow realm, as Naruto had now realized was very different from traveling to the realm. First of, unlike before, there was no smothering darkness obscuring his vision this time. But his relief soon turned to panic as he realized that the experience was much more intense.

His vision was thrown for a ride, the realm around him seem to whirl in every direction; gravity loosened its grip as his body was picked up by an invisible force. And like that, they vanished, sucked trough an invisible portal. Naruto couldn't help but yell, hell Larxene was even yelling as their bodies tumbled through unknown space.

He closed his eyes, ignoring the nauseating swirl of vision. As he reopened them the ground rose to meet his face, it came too quickly for he no time to react, landing soundly in the mud with a wet squish. He was back, and somehow he managed to hold onto Larxene and judging by the way she was shaking, her ride was no better than his.

It was still raining when they arrived back on the training field, that was good to, as the water falling down aided in the removal of the brown gunk on their faces. "That was crazy, let's do it again!" Naruto yelled vehemently, Larxene only pried herself free of his grip, managing to stifle out a weak decline to his offer. There was no way she'd be doing that for a while.

_'Naruto-sama, Naruto-sama you're here!' _Hinata's thoughts were happy, vibrant; her fervid tone made her sound loud and close.

_'You sound close, where are you_?' He asked.

"Turn around!" She said, he did so and came face to face with the smiling Hyuuga girl, her pupil-less eyes boring into his face. He almost stumbled back.

"Hinata-san... what are you-"

Larxene was stopped by Hinata giving Naruto something that could only be described as a little something more than an embrace. Naruto didn't resist it either, he didn't fight back when she hopped into his arms, he didn't resist her legs wrapping themselves around his waist either. Her mouth was slack-jawed and she soon fixed it. "Hinata... what are you doing here?" Larxene asked, her usually calm tone of voice marred by a slight edge.

"It's glad to see you and all Hinata-chan...but-" Naruto began, noticing the sharpness of her voice, "-Could you let go of me?" Hinata complied, reluctantly and to his surprise glared at Larxene, keeping a firm grasp of Naruto's arm.

"Hinata, now's not the time to be acting all love-struck, we've got an order to carry out." Xion's voice blared out with command, bringing Larxene onto the tips of her toes. Larxene, all dirty-faced in all her glory spun quickly on her heel. She came to see a red-headed girl, garbed from the neck down in a black leather like body suit. The handles of two tanto protruded from her sides.

"Who the hell are you", she back-pedaled; what was going on? Who was this girl and what was her association with Hinata, and more importantly Naruto. Things weren't making sense, anymore, Naruto was hiding things from her and for some reason she couldn't help but think that it all had to do something with that seal he showed her earlier. Despite her obvious concerns, her insides were being currently clutched, grasped by a hand of intense rage. The invidious sight of Hinata clinging to Naruto was twisting her up on the inside; it made her wonder whether or not Naruto was being true when he told Raila that she was his girlfriend.

This red head, standing there so confidently in front of her, what was her name? "I asked who are you!" Larxene charged forth, straightening her fingers, firing them at the girl's throat. Xion reached for her left tanto, quickly pulling out the blade, resting the tip at Larxene's neck.

"Don't try it." Xion said, but flinched when she felt the searing heat of a black claw extended off Larxene's fingertips at her neck.

"You were saying?" Larxene asked.

Naruto's movements were quick, almost unnoticeable as in one instant he was there between them, pulling both of their arms away from each other. Xion scoffed as she let herself free of Naruto's grip. She flipped her hair before sliding her tanto back into its sheath.

"Xion, what are you doing here?" He asked, noting the scowl on her face.

Her finger stopped short of his face. "The question is what were _you_doing here? Do you know why I was sent here?" She asked, but before Naruto could answer she cut him off, "-Of course you don't." He frowned, well she was right. "Earlier, there was a massive disturbance in this area, a mass disturbance consisting of Konton's chakra, explain now." She gripped Naruto by the collar, drawing him to her face, she was taller than he so he ended up on his toes.

Naruto chuckled, jerking a thumb back in Larxene's direction, silently mouth "it was her." The blond girl looked up, her brow raised in confusion.

"What?"

That was when Xion looked at Larxene, "Her you say?" Naruto nodded, which was confusing to her in about every way. How could this girl exhibit such a large amount of Konton's chakra, just who was she? As far as she was concerned, only those from the Saiki could use that thing's chakra, at least that was what Kinkou told her. This was interesting, and something worth investigating. Xion supressed a shudder, suddenly overcome with excitement, perhaps she had come across something big; that tingle in te pit of her stomach forced a smiled out of her.

"She's ex-Saiki," Naruto said. Xion's smile faded away and, abruptly, it turned itself upside down."Don't get the wrong idea, she's not committed to them any longer, trust me." Xion's eyes seemed to blaze, she wouldn't accept something like that; if there was anything that she had learned during her short time in the Asahoshi is was: once a Saiki, always a Saiki. She would be keeping an eye on that girl. At the moment, she couldn't touch the girl, she was still apparently an associate of Naruto, so that meant she couldn't attack her fully.

Yet. One slip up and this girl would be gone, like that.

"Follow me," Xion said, "Kinkou wants to see you again." She noted the way Larxene faltered when she said the name Kinkou.

"What about Larxene," Naruto said, pointing at the girl that Xion now identified as Larxene.

Xion quickly declined, "No, she'll have to stay."

"What, no!" Naruto yelled breaking away from Xion, he pulled Larxene closer to him, "If I go, she goes." Once again, Larxene felt the blood rush to her face, embarrassing as it was, it was flattering. Naruto's earlier claim about their relationship might not have spurious, he might have actually met it.

"No she really can't come, her chakra won't allow it," Hinata's voice came from behind them, he opted not to turn and glare at the girl for scaring the crap out of him, "Konton's chakra can't pass through Kinkou-sama's gate, you got through it before because he allowed it. But I doubt that he would let her through." Although it was uncertain, Naruto could barely sense the subtle hint of happiness in Hinata's voice.

"F-fine," Naruto muttered, downcast, he glanced at Larxene who gave him that "it's okay" look. But she was wrong, it very much wasn't okay, not with him. But he had no choice, Kinkou could not be denied, yet. "Can she at least follow us to the area?" Naruto asked. Xion contemplated on denying him but Naruto gave her a stare, a look that bore right into her with drill-like power. Transfixed she was; even so, her lips were ready to say no, but for some reason she said, "Alright."

She had never really noticed it, but when he looked at you directly, Naruto's eyes were.... she had no word for them.... really blue? She didn't know, but she did know that she couldn't resist them. But what was she thinking? Crazy thoughts, crazy thoughts.

Naruto sensed something, someone else was here, someone he knew. They had just arrived, not even here for five full minutes. His hand whipped behind his head in an incredibly flexible burst of speed, snatching the senbon out of the air before it made contact with his skull. Then a high-pitched shriek permeated the air, he knew that sound all too well and he hated the thing that made it.

Naruto glanced up, "Stupid bird." He said spotting Tomo circling overhead. Hinata inched her eye brow up.

"A falcon?" She said.

"Yeah, it belongs to someone I know." When he said that, he espied Haku walking out of the trees. She smiled and as a result brought a smile to his face.

"You didn't think you could leave without me now did you?" Haku said cheerfully. For the hundredth time today Larxene's mouth was agape. She wasn't sure that Haku was seeing the same things she was, because of she were then the girl would not be smiling so cheerfully. Honestly how Haku could be so nonchalant about seemingly everything was a mystery to her, one that Larxene didn't think was worth solving.

"Who is-" Xion began

"A friend," Naruto answered immediately, "My girlfriend."

Oh come one, make up you're mind already. Larxene was definitely not happy about that comment, Naruto wasn't serious about anything he said before, that pompous, self-centered..... Larxene refused to let anything show on the surface, that would be weak and not to mention pathetic. Hinata on the other hand thought differently.

"G-Girlfriend? Naruto-sama, i-is that true." The Hyuuga sniffled, probably to get his attention. Larxene couldn't say it was a bad thing though, it was good in a sense. She wanted to see Naruto talk his way out this one... and wait, what was his relationship with Hinata? Larxene's insides boiled up and over with jealousy.

In Xion's opinion, Naruto certainly was a suave one, he proved it by the way he smoothly pulled Hinata in by the chin, whispering something in her ear. The pale-eyes girl's cheerful giggles ensuing was what made Naruto's unctuousness apparent. He was ambiguous, elusive, smooth. She liked that, it was hot! But Xion soon shook her head, uncomfortably taking her eyes of the sweet talking boy in front of her. Crazy thoughts, crazy thoughts.

Forcing down the urge to swoon, Hinata chirped, "Okay, Naruto-sama!"

Haku just smiled, always with the smiling; how could a killer be so happy all the time? It was just plain weird.

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Yay, I'm finally done with this... whew, you would not believe how many times I revised this chapter. I trying to improve my grammar for this story, because like many of you have told me, its been at a low point. While at the same time, my other story's grammar has been like top notch. Even though I'm using two different writing styles at least the grammar should be the same, right.

So tell me what you liked, what you hated, you know the deal and you know my motto.

Anyway, I hope you like it, and I'll be short, just wait for the next chapter, which I promise will be good.

Top five reviewers:

Leaf Ranger

Dragon Man 180

Chronostorm

Sir MIDNIGHT The DarkSlayer

sipuli123

Alright, you already know what I'm about say, and if you don't well, I was going to say the word Badass so yeah......

Anyway, wait for the next chapter. This is grimstep 5 saying good day and big balls... it's not what you think.

Latr and Thanx

Next Chapter: Apogee

GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT


	19. Apogee

Hey guys...I'm baaaaaacccckkkk

Yeah really I don't have that much to say, but I feel like I have to say something, so here's an explanation. First off, I am extremely sorry about the Uber long wait for this update. Yes, I know that you all have been wanting to read and I haven't been delivering. I hope you enjoy this. But seriously, I'll tell you the REAL reasons why I haven't been writing as often, one I go to school (lol), two, I've become like a work-out junkie... seriously... my six-pack is awesome! And lastly... I've been training to become a ninja. Not these type of ninjas, I'm talking urban ninja also known as free-runners, yeah, I've started parkour. It's really hard but its really fun, mad adrenaline. Anyway, there's my explanation... so yeah

Oh and I don't know why but this story has for some reason lost its original format and most of the previous chapters have no break between scenes, so everything looks scrunched up. I'm working on re-uploading all of my previous chaps so that they look a lot neater.

Enjoy

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Sacred Mark of The Rising Kekkei Genkai

When you wake up, everything before that becomes a memory.

It hadn't even been a few minutes after they all met up that things decided to take a turn for the worst. Naruto always felt as though the world was out to get him, and in a sense he was right. _His_ world of Konoha was at least.

Xion lead the group, Naruto followed directly behind, and of course that implied that Hinata was attached to his arm.

Larxene and Haku followed in the back, both keeping an attentive gaze fixed upon Hinata. Specifically watching where the little Hyuuga girl's hands were on Naruto's body. A silent memo had already been passed between them; Hinata had better not have gotten too clingy. They both got jealous very easily when it came to Naruto.

Hinata's motives seemed innocent enough though, so it allotted Larxene some time to make sense of her own hopelessly confused thoughts.

She know not whether she was supposed to teeming with excitement or rather if she should have been in turmoil.

She ruled the shadow realm for Kami's sake and that by itself was a thrill ride of a lifetime! She should have been jumping for joy, yet still she could not help but feel neutral about the situation. She was still uncertain about something. What was the term... yes, she was caught in between a rock and a hard place.

It was true, she _did_ wield that much power. In that realm, her own hand was like the hand of Kami, she was divine, in a way she was... she was...

... In the shadow realm... she _was_ Kami! It was almost like blasphemy to think that, but regardless of its outlandishness... it was true. In a sense, she was a goddess among her own subordinates.

She caught sight of Naruto's unruly hair, damp with the wetness of the rain. Surely _he_ did not think of her as some kind of goddess, in his eyes she was still the same person she was the day before. It must have been somewhat of a pride-crusher though, to know that she was was so ineffably strong. Did Naruto even feel challenged by her? If so, he did a good job of masking it.

At least the playing field had been leveled between them. Although the scale seemed to be tipping a bit more in her favor now. Now she wouldn't have to try keep up with him anymore; he would have to keep up with her; with this power, she could much more than keep up... she could surpass him.

"Naruto-kun... where are we going?" Haku asked. She swiveled her head from left to right, observing.

Naruto turned his head slightly, "Haku-chan, I haven't quite fully figured that out myself and I'm still trying." He gave her a smile before turning back around.

Reluctantly, she nodded and resigned to silence.

The training grounds were already behind them, far behind. The forest loomed around them now, its trees provided shelter from the rain with their robust leaves. Surrounding them, the indigenous sounds of the scene seemed to bring the forest to life.

"Well, to answer that question all I can say is that _Naruto _is going somewhere where he can explain-in detail-just what it is about _your _friend," Xion jutted her thumb back at Larxene, "that allows her to be so powerful."

Larxene seemed to twitch with anger at that comment. The skin in-between her eyes scrunched together as she frowned. The red-head was starting to get on her nerves.

"I think we already established that," Larxene replied saucily, "But we deserve to know something at least."

Haku nodded in agreement. But Xion simply shrugged.

"Yeah I guess, but it's not up to me to tell you anything," she said, her lazy tone actually making her seem like she _wanted_ to tell them anything.

Hake spoke up, "Then would you mind telling us who it _is_ up to?" She glanced forward at Naruto who was looking back at her, he leaned over and whispered something into Hinata's ear. His hand covered his lips. The Hyuuga girl looked to be fully engrossed in whatever the hell it was he was saying. She nodded like an academy student learning a new lesson, with a fresh child-like fervor.

Xion had fallen into silence, quietly refusing to answer Haku's question. She apparently did not have the power to tell them anything.

Once again Haku resigned to silence.

"It's Kinkou!" Hinata exclaimed, grinning.

Xion let out a quick sputter of breath, like she was choking on something, and glared at Hinata. The Hyuuga's smile quickly slipped away.

"W-what... did I do something... wrong?" Hinata asked. Xion only pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded."B-but, N-naruto-sama told me to do it," she muttered.

When Xion glanced at Naruto he simply smiled and waved nonchalantly. "I have no idea what she's talking about." Apathy was the worst when it came from someone who you thought actually _did_ care.

Larxene's eyes were wide with disbelief. "K-kinkou... n-no way. Naruto-kun, what have you been doing? You're part of the Asahoshi?"

"Yes I am," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Gravid silence followed and before it got too awkward Naruto added in, "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

Larxene shook her head forgetting that he couldn't see her.

"Well does it?" Naruto repeated, this time with a bit more emotion to dampen the dryness of his tone.

"No... at least it doesn't anymore, a couple of months ago it would have disturbed me greatly."

"So you're okay with it then?" Naruto asked.

"Y-yeah... I guess." Larxene muttered, but not audibly enough for it to be convincing. She felt a small tickle in her ribs, Haku had poked her. She was looking at Larxene with those big chestnut colored eyes of hers... 'What's the Asahoshi?', those eyes asked.

"I'll tell you later," Larxene whispered.

Xion scoffed, "You need to ask her for permission, whipped much?"

Naruto chuckled softly."Not true," he mumbled. And it wasn't true! But denial was always the first stage of realizing the truth.

"Sounds like my sis has got you wrapped around her little finger kid," A voice familiar voice said.

Naruto looked up, along with everyone else. He remembered that voice, he'd heard it only once before but he could never forget it. The man it belonged to saved his life after all. He could see that Larxene recognized it as well, her eyes twinkled with excitement.

_No way, it couldn't be_, She thought, _he couldn't be here. _But everything about the moment shattered what she believed. It was real, very much so, so real that she could possibly touch this person. So real that she could possibly see this person step out in front of her.

... So real that she could have heard this person's voice again.

Larxene's eyes darted up toward the canopy, the only place in the copse where she could feel her brother's presence. He was definitely here alright, his fiery chakra, made him stick out from the crowd. Definitely his. Not mistaking it.

The ocular proof wasn't even needed, she did not need to see in order to believe. But seeing Lark after all this while, it was like a dream come true.

He was sitting jauntily on a thick tree branch, swinging his long legs gently. He then dropped down, his black robes fluttering as he did and landed squarely in the middle of the group, in between Haku and Larxene.

"Yo, La-La," He said jovially, giving his sister a casual wave.

There was a long silence before Naruto snickered rather loudly. "La-La," he chuckled out. It was a regular Hardy-Har-Har moment him wasn't it? Larxene's face lit up bright red and she glared at her brother, obviously perturbed by her brother's casual use of her old nickname.

Lark's brow rose up, "What?" Larxene glared even harder, "What, what did I say?"

His sister simply looked past him and folded her arms, "Shut up Naruto."

"Sorry, sorry It's...just that I thought our for nickname you was bad." He turned to Lark, "What were you thinking when you gave her that one?"

Lark simply shrugged, "I dunno, something along the lines of: 'boy I bet this will get her angry'."

Naruto flashed his thumb up. "Mission successful," he replied. The both of them broke out into soft laughter. All through it Xion was wide-eyed; perhaps she was doubting him too much but did Naruto realize just whose side he was playing for? Getting all chummy with a Saiki rat, outrageous!

Xion tensed, no matter, she knew which side she was on.

She unsheathed her blade quickly and lunged at Lark, poising it to pierce through the back of his head. Her arm rippled with the strain of her forward surge, she gripped her weapon's handle so tightly that she could feel each fold and crease of the handle's wrapping with pinpoint definition. She could feel the kill coming.

No kill came though, about a foot of distance was left before the blade met his flesh when Lark whipped around swiftly, catching the blade in his bare palm. Blood trickled from his hand in little crimson streams.

There was a slight hiss when her tanto's blade suddenly turned bright red; she could barely discern the small sliver of smoke snaking its way from underneath Lark's grip. The tip of the blade sizzled and slowly melted, growing limp like a wet rag. She inhaled sharply and let go in an instant, leaving the scorching metal in Lark's hand.

_H-he even burned the handle? _

Lark didn't say a word to her though, instead his eyes went over to Naruto. "Well now Namikaze, the Asahoshi? You've gotten yourself some pretty competent friends now haven't you?" He said.

Naruto's eyes hardened and he began speaking without preamble, "You said the next time I saw you you'd try to..."

"-Kill you, Naruto, yeah I did." Lark cut in, tossing aside the remains of Xion's weapon. He could not see, but he would've bet that his sister's eyes were a bit disbelieving right now. He continued, "But that was before I realized the affection my little sister here held for you." He suddenly clapped his hands twice. "So! Tell you what, I won't try to kill you..."

Naruto nodded slowly, sensing second part to that sentence.

"-...but he might." And there it was... the add-on.

Naruto was forced to step back as a black blur burst through a bushel of greenery. He also wore the Saiki trench-coat, but the hood obscured his face, revealing only his roughly triangular but hardened jaw. He closed in on Naruto, extending an open but _dangerous_ hand towards his face. Instinctively, Naruto's eyes flashed orange but the man's hand was already too close for him to dodge.

"Naruto-kun!". The ground beneath Haku's foot broke rather easily as she sprinted to his fore; before Naruto's rear leg hit the ground Haku grabbed the man by the wrist and locked it in place by the joint with both hands. His fingers then went limp, lingering inches away from her chest. She never mentioned it to him but she was faster than Naruto; it was probably the only thing she had above him.

In between her lips she held a senbon tightly.

"Is... that a chi technique?" The hooded man asked calmly, his other hand blurring toward Haku's throat. Her feet were now dangling above the ground. They were locked in a stalemate, she had his arm... but he had her by the throat. If it kept going any longer, she would end up blacking out.

Haku's eyes narrowed, she took aim carefully and spit the senbon directly into his hood. He grunted and jerked his head back.

Before he could recover Hinata acted, despite her fear she was still able to put some breathing distance between the man and Haku. She struck with her fingers at the tenketsu by his elbow, freezing up the joint , allowing Haku to release her grip on his locked hand and grab hold of the one on her throat. She then pulled up and dug both feet into his chest, shoving him away. He stumbled back clumsily before falling straight into the mud.

"Ow... that hurt," he muttered, standing up straight. Haku only observed; he had an impressive build and tough skin, hard knuckles and shoulders broader than Naruto's...

... but Naruto's were much better.

Larxene moved to help, but Lark block her, jutting his arm out. "We need to talk," he said. The ground around them began to give way to white hot flames, she knew from past experience that this was Lark's preferred mode of transportation. He was taking her somewhere.

Inwardly, she smirked, this would be a good time to show him her new way of getting around.

"Yeah, let's" she agreed. Her body recalled how it felt when she first accidentally opened the portal. The fervor in which she attacked Naruto... how much chakra she used, it all came back in one big flood.

As far as output went, mildly stated, Larxene's entire body _exploded_ with a wild mass shadow that engulfed them both which then slowly began sinking into the ground.

"Haku-chan, you think you guys can handle him?" Naruto said, watching nervously as the shadow continued to sink.

"Yes," Haku said; Hinata and Xion took positions at both of her sides, "We're okay now."

"Good," Naruto replied, "Hold him off until I get back, and I'll reward you with something special." He yelled out as he turned and sprinted into the descending darkness.

Hinata whimpered, "L-lucky... how come I don't get a reward," she whimpered, sticking out her lower lip. Haku only giggled and turned her attention to their opponent.

_I didn't forget about you either_, Naruto said through their mental link. Hinata smiled, her resolve strengthened. She too turned her full attention to their opponent.

Xion simply flashed her second tanto out, crouching low, ready to do battle.

The Saiki member raised both hands defensively, "Whoa... let me introduced myself first." He jerked his head back and his hood flipped off on its own. He shook his mid-length brown hair out of his face, he had strong onyx eyes. And the senbon still protruded from his left cheek bone, buried halfway through his fair skin.

He pulled it out with another grunt and picked his teeth with the bloody side. His eyes looked at their disturbed expressions and smiled.

"Roland Von DeLouise... nice to meet you."

**

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**

There really were certain things his little sister could do that even he _didn't_ know about. Was there even a way to explain what he was seeing, an accurate method of explaining all of this? Most likely not.

He was sitting on a rugged gray rock, he absentmindedly ran the heels of his boots through the red-tinted sand. His eyes were glued to the moon. It was red, red! He smiled, mouth wide open in awe. "Wow La-La, this is one hell of a genjutsu." He whistled to show how impressed he was, but then his head snapped back down. "...huh... wait, but you can't use genjutsu, you suck at it!"

Larxene stood in front of him, arms folded as she waited for her brother to finish absorbing the grand luster of her world. Her world, she was beginning to like the sound of that. Her eyes watched the moon as well, it had a gentle presence despite its powerful color.

Lark started laughing, "Ha, this is great La-La, you've really improved you skills! But... what exactly does this genjutsu do? I-I don't feel any different."

"This is real."

"N-no way!" He looked at her skeptically. "This is _not_ real!"

Larxene chuckled, " Yep, and its all for me! Although Naruto-kun didn't react half as enthusiastically as you did Onii-chan. And what's the story between you two, acting all happy-go lucky up there?" She was scowling now.

"What's the story between us two?" Lark pointed at her accusingly. "What's the story between _you two_?" He shook his head, he then sighed deeply, "have you forgotten that he's the entire reason why you're considered to be a traitor in the-" He suddenly stopped and shook his head, "-Oh..I get it now."

"W-what, what did you get?" Larxene asked, blushing heavily, "I-its not what you think I-I..."

The way that his sister now acted, the way she spoke, her demeanor, her gait, her much softer eyes now, it was all because of him. She was different. The sadistic, egotistical, and wonderfully rotten little brat that he loved to spoil was gone now, wasn't she? Where was she now?

_Guess she's gone then huh?_ He thought to himself, finding it hard to swallow now. A lump of emotion and the regret towards his own words rested at the base of his throat.

_Protect her_... what an idiot he was.

That Namikaze did more than protect her... he reshaped her. He held her heart within his grasp and molded it to fit the groove of his own palm. His sister _belonged_ to that kid in a way that he really did not want to understand.

... He could see it now, Larxene wasn't his to cherish anymore. She was Naruto's, she'd lost her own life and found it once again through his.

Larxene blushed, attempting to restart another explanation, "T-there's nothing b-between us. I just-..."

"-just followed the boy who you were assigned to capture?" Lark finished for her. "I understand...just...just don't say anything else. You've fallen for him... there's nothing more I can do about it." His sister stayed silent, and broke the eye contact by turning her face away. Her skin looked flustered; that was a loud enough answer for him. The message had been passed between them; Lark simply grimaced at the fact. " You _do_ know that I can't protect him right?"

Larxene nodded and said "But why did you have to come now," her lips twisted into a snarl, "why now!" She yelled.

Lark closed his eyes, the screech of her discordant voice was like a dulcet bell chime. That was the little sister he remembered, the brat who _loved_ to yell.

"Can't you...you...give me more time with him? Huh? Um... cover for me... or something, I don't know! Just don't take him away now... " Her eyes closed tightly as the tears began to form.

"Do you really doubt his ability that much?" Lark said.

"...I just don't want him to die...," She was surprising herself, did she really believe that he'd die? Everyone died at one point right? Seeping through her sealed eyelid a teardrop fell and darkened the sand below.

Lark sighed, "Wow, you've really fallen in love with the guy? Argh! La-La, now what am I supposed to do?"

"Huh.. what do you-..?"

"I mean: how am I supposed to take away the guy that my dear little sister loves so much, huh?" He smiled lovingly.

Larxene understood the implied and a wide smile formed on her face. It was okay now, she could allow her heart to stop its dangerous race. "So that means that you'll join us?" She asked nervously.

Lark brought up his finger, "No." He said bluntly, plucking her on the forehead. Larxene had one of those 'disappointed child' expressions on her face. "Buuuut, I may be able to buy some time, you know... get the organization to some lesser Kekkei Genkai before we come after you guys." He turned his face away, looking apathetic.

"Thank you!" His sister slammed into his chest, embracing him wholeheartedly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Ah... what do we have here?"

The funny accent and smooth tone were barely familiar, but she still knew it. She turned her eyes to see Raila leaning on a tall pillar of rock protruding from the sand. And on top of the pillar Naruto sat, dangling one foot off the edge. He was holding onto his left arm which was clawed and gleaming in the red light.

"So, now that we've had our little chat... can we begin?" Naruto asked, rising to his full height. He pulled his gauntlet down tighter on his arm. "You said that the next time we saw each other, you'd kill me; Now you go back on your word and send some little crony of yours to come after me?" Naruto crouched low, shifting into a battle-ready stance. "I don't think I can forgive you."

"No wait," Larxene said, throwing up her hands,"my brother, he said-" She was stopped when Lark placed his hand upon her shoulder, gripping it firmly. He then pushed her behind him.

"Oh that's okay Namikaze-san, I think I can live without your forgiveness."

With his free hand Lark conjured up a flame that hovered above his palm. Larxene's eyes went wide, she could see the battle coming.

"Onii-chan, b-but you just said-"

"Forget what I said!" He snapped, his voice then softened, "I won't kill him, but I can still injure him." He his eyes moved from Larxene to Naruto, "Come one kid!" He taunted.

"My pleasure," Naruto responded. A tint of orange bled into his eyes right before launched himself off the pillar, shattering it. Lark cocked back and sent out a palm-shaped tongue of flames. Naruto held his breath, imagining the flames flowing around him, and surprisingly as they approached him they did just that! Wasn't his bloodline just the best? The heat was almost unbearable though, taking the moisture right out of mouth and burning his nostrils. He was blown back into the pile of rubble that used to be the pillar he and Raila were on. Speaking of Raila, just what was he doing?

Raila sat on the ground, cross-legged a few yards from the pile of rubble. Naruto popped his head out of the rubble, his jacket charred, "Some help would be appreciated Raila!"

" Oh, sure thing!" He responded, standing up before blurring swiftly off to the side, leaving behind a few wisps of sand.

"Raila, stop now." Larxene said

Ceasing his speedy charge, Raila blurred back into vision, his sharp claws inches away from Lark's face. Letting his hand fall limp, Raila dropped to his knees, bowing his head remorsefully. "Hai, Larxene-sama, my deepest apologies." No sooner than he had stopped attacking, he was by Naruto's side again. "Sorry Naruto, you're on your own," He said as he pulled him out of the rubble. He slapped Naruto's hand. "Tag in." He said.

Naruto sweatdropped, "Really? You know, you're pretty useless." He dusted himself off, turning his attention back to Lark, well he would have if Lark was still there. That was when Naruto noticed his growing shadow and looked up to see Lark in the air, falling at him with a massive fireball hovering overhead.

"Oh would you look at the time," Raila said before disappearing.

"Oh shit...this is gonna hurt..." Naruto only closed his eyes and cringed in wait for the pain.

**

* * *

**

Hinata was on the ground, down and out, her dark hair was covered in mud, loosely sprawled in thin clumps. Half of her face was buried in the ground. She opened her one free eyes just in time to see a black boot close in on her face. The kick rolled her over onto her back, where she moaned in pain.

Roland, who was this guy? How was he so impossibly strong? Roland was standing right above her with both feet on either side of her waist. Their eyes met, so she turned her face to the side, exposing the mud on her cheek. She could feel the rain beginning wash it away. Despite her not looking, she could still see him, the veins on her temple were bulging.

She could see everyone, although she would rather have refrained from looking.

Haku was struggling to stand, her femur had been cracked in three different places. Just looking at the girl flop around in the mud as she tried to stand was painful. It was like she could feel the pain in Haku's leg just by looking at it. It looked like the pain was sharp, while at the same time throbbing.

Xion's wouldn't have been seen had it not been for her bloodline. She was sprawled out somewhere in a small thicket of thorny bushes with small cuts across every open area of skin.

" Is this all you have to offer?" Hinata closed her eyes tightly, "This is it?" His voice made her want curl up in a little ball; his blood-lust was obvious from the way he spoke with glee. His tone was deep and sadistic, and with every syllable he uttered, it brought her that much closer to tears. This was weird for her; the old Hinata would have fainted from the shock of it all. But here and now, she was fully conscious. Even so, this newer, more improved version of herself was still of no use.

"I couldn't help but notice that you have a Kekkei Genkai as well, you wouldn't mind if I take it... right?" He spoke slowly into her ear; his desire to act upon his savage instinct was growing, his voice was shaky and barely restrained. He wanted to kill her, so badly, he did. Bad enough for him to make it seem like _he_ was in pain from his own self-control.

_' Naruto-sama...!' _That was all she could think. She turned her head even more and buried it into the mud. "Kuh!"

Roland grabbed her by the face, firmly clutching her angular jawline in between the groove of his palm. "Look this way!" He barked, showing his white teeth. She felt him raise her head for a moment and then slammed it back down. Hinata's vision went hazy, Roland's head had split into two separate and undefined visages that periodically blurred in and out of focus. The mud absorbed a lot of the impact, but it had still hurt like a bitch.

"Naruto-sama..." Hinata whimpered, her skin was numb barely registering Roland's fingers grabbing her by the chin again. "Naruto-sama... Naruto-sama... Na...ru... to-sa...m..aaaHHH!" The pain that ensued was horrible, the worst she'd ever felt. Worse than Neji's palm during training, worse than her father's disapproving glare in the mornings. She was in agony; hell had been brought to her through the _only_ thing she was recognized for: her eyes.

Roland's fingers crackled a stream of blue chakra that flowed from Hinata's eyes and into his hand.

"Ohh, I love the sound of your voice, scream some more for me." He said, drunk from the sound of her screams.

Haku's lower lips was quivering. She couldn't do a thing, totally useless, that's what she was! She did the first thing she thought of; she pleaded.

"Stop!" She screamed, "Stop it please!" But Roland continued, a smile was spread wide on his face. He loved his job.

In her desperation, Haku began dragging herself threw the mud with her elbows. At this point she was wiling to try anything. Her eyes went wide as the thought of a last minute act of desperation swarmed though her mind. There was no planning, no strategy at all; Haku simply rolled on her left shoulder and with her right hand groped the inside of her kimono by her chest and without much time to aim flung two senbon.

It was the simplest ninja tactic and the one that most ninja forgot that they could do in times like this.

There was a time where she held her breath as she watched her little weapon's sail through the air until they hit their mark. Roland's head jerked back twice and he fell over to the side. Hinata had stopped screaming, but she was till breathing hard. Haku could hear her wheezing from where she was, and if her ears were correct, in between her gasps she was calling out Naruto's name. In less then a few seconds she passed out.

"Gah, dammit that hurt!" Roland got up and pulled the two senbon Haku had thrown from his neck. He did it very slowly too, just to show her how much he enjoyed his own pain as well as theirs. "You brat Ill-"

Roland was silenced in mid-sentence when a geyser of black shadow erupted behind him. The blackness stretched into the sky, where it burst away part of the clouds, leaving a circular ring of clear morning sky that allowed the sun to shine directly on them. From afar it actually looked beautiful.

Roland turned his neck around, scratching at his wound and looked with one eye closed at the pillar of black with a bored expression. His eyes only went wide when a hand breached through the shadow and palmed his face. At that moment Haku fell silent, she could see the air distort around the person's palm and next thing she knew she heard a loud pop, which scared the shit out of her, and Roland's entire body had been blown back into the copse of trees.

The shadow then evaporated, blowing away like dust. She noticed that they were missing someone. Naruto was standing there with his arm extended, his strangely large canine teeth clenched. His clothes were horribly burned and torn. His face was blackened with something that looked strangely like soot. But what caught their attention the most was the fact that his eyes were blood red.

Larxene was on the ground, frantically crawling away as if she was scared of him. If there was one thing Haku knew about Larxene it was that she was far from being afraid of Naruto. Next to her brother, probably, Naruto was the person she'd learned to trust the most.

"N-naruto... you-" But Haku's last few words remained unsaid, for the drain of fatigue and exhaustion had finally caught up with her. Like a weight, her head hit the ground with a soft squelch of mud. She didn't even care about the possible danger she was in, the only thing that matter was closing her eyes. "Naruto..." she muttered, "What's wrong with you?" Haku's body then went limp.

Naruto then let out a vicious roar in the sky, the sheer force of it all causing the surrounding mud to ripple outward. He looked around, his bloodshot expression scanned the field for any signs of conscious life. There was none that he could see at the moment, he'd forgotten about Larxene, so in a blind fury he brought both hands up and hammered them both down into the ground. Hinata and Haku's bodies had been flung a bit farther away from him, and the mud that he'd kicked up rained back down upon him in small clumps. It got in his hair, on his close, his face.

Naruto truly looked like an animal. And Larxene was witnessing it all. She quivered unable to move. Afraid of the fact that this Naruto was the exact same Naruto she was learning to depend on, the same one she was beginning to fall for. This feral boy, some much unlike a civilized human, was the same boy she held feelings for.

Naruto turned his head and locked eyes with her, just as the last of the muddy rainfall hit the ground. Larxene gasped at the sight of his slitted gaze.

"Na...Naruto?"

He looked at her for a long moment, his breathing slowed to the point where she could only hear it through his flaring nostrils. It'd seemed that he had calmed down. She hadn't. She was still breathing just as hard as he was a moment ago.

"Naruto...are you...there?"

His face scrunched, he grew angry, and roared angrily at her; she could feel its wind. He just yelled and yelled and yelled. He did not stop for what seemed to be minutes as apposed to seconds. He dropped down on all fours and came closer, much more like and animal this time.

"GUUAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Naruto roared.

Larxene cringed even harder.

Naruto stalked closer and she was just about to let out a scream when two bodies dropped down on to Naruto's back, smashing him into the ground. Roland and Lark, had smashed both of their knees into Naruto's shoulder blades, pinning him down by his arms and torso. They cocked back their arms.

" I'm sorry La-la, but if this guy is_ this _strong when he gets like this then we've got to take those eyes away from him now!"

Larxene's mind then snapped back, her concern for Naruto, the humane version of himself, kicked in. "No! You promised!" She could not believe that she was about to let this happen. She couldn't let Naruto get hurt, yet, she didn't want to stop it from happening.

"I thought I would give this kid a break too, but looks that's not happening... sorry Larxene." Roland said as well. Naruto struggled underneath their grips, wriggling his body like a worm in pain.

Lark's fist lit ablaze, however Roland's did not, bur Larxene knew that it would still hurt the same.

With two simultaneous grunts, they smashed both of their fists into Naruto's back. He screamed so loudly that his voice cracked from the pain. They pulled their fist back and observed the damage. Lark's punch had burned a hole straight through the fabric of his clothes going down through the flesh, marring it horribly.

They both stood up and gave Larxene an apologetic look. She didn't say a word, the shame was too great to bare, she could not take it. She had just witnessed Naruto get pummeled and she felt relieved! She was relieved of her fear in his presence, relieved at the fact that she wasn't in any more danger. But at the same time she had exactly no clue how she would ever look him in the eye again.

Larxene simply let her head fall. Right now she was only worthy of looking at the ground, she owned no right to look at Naruto, not even in his current frenzy.

"What exactly was that?" Roland asked.

"I dunno, but I definitely don't want it to happen again." Lark replied. He turned his gaze to his sister, "Listen, I know I promised but..."

Larxene inhaled sharply.

Naruto's head shot up, he growled through his teeth. He rose to his knees and in one swift motion whipped his arms out wildly. They couldn't see the exact effects but they felt it. Roland and Lark were sent flying back tumbling along the muck until they finally came to a halt.

Still on his knees Naruto gazed directly into her eyes, they flashed blue every few seconds. Larxene gasped as it hit her; Naruto was trying to regain his control! He still had emotions other than rage, he was still human underneath this feral exterior.

... Slowly Naruto reached his hand out towards her, it shook desperately. She looked at the clawed hand, and then at his troubled expression and then back at the hand. Without another word she took it and pulled him into a deep embrace, resting her chin over his quivering shoulder.

Roland and Lark had just gotten up when Larxene called out. "Roland, Onii-chan... you can keep your promise... I promise that we'll have this battle another day but just not now. Right now, please just leave." With that Larxene closed her eyes and buried herself into Naruto even more.

Lark nodded, tapping Roland on the shoulder and motioning for them to leave. A dark portal open behind them; they did not look back as they walked straight into it.

"This might have been our only chance, you'll regret this you know." Roland said.

With a half lidded gaze into the darkness as the portal closed, Lark said, "... I know."

As Naruto calmed down finally, the red drained slowly out of his eyes, returning his irises to their normal blue. He then went limp, leaning his full weight on her. Not expecting it, she abruptly fell down into the muck with him.

"Sorry Lar-chan," Naruto's voice was low and raspy, "I guess I don't know my own strength." With that Naruto passed out.

Larxene laughed softly and pushed his head into her bosom. She looked up at the sky and listened to him snore."Baka." She said quietly.

Her peace was short lived however. Someone's foot had stepped on the ground right beside her head. It was a man wearing white robes, his wide rhombus shaped hat blocked her view. Underneath the hat, she could see wise but furious eyes glaring down at her.

**

* * *

**

Lark and Roland finally breached through the darkness of the transportation portal. They had arrived within the castle's walls, a long dark corridor in which the only light came from the patterned torches running down its sides. As the portal closed behind them, without a word the two allowed themselves to collapse along the wall until they slid down to the floor.

"What was that?"

"What?" Lark asked.

"Your sister's little boyfriend, the Namikaze, what is he?" Roland replied sternly.

Lark looked up toward one of the torches on the wall, he stared deeply into its lambent flame before saying, "we're about to find out."

Roland hunched himself forward, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"It means-" Lark started, but someone interrupted him.

"-it means that Zexin has been hiding something about that boy, something that none of us know about." Zabuza was leaning on the wall next to them, his arms were folded and his eyes closed. "And by the looks of it, that boy has something other than that Konton's chakra under his sleeve."

Lark's eyes grew dull, "By the looks of what? You're not even looking at us right now," he said.

Zabuza cracked one eyelid open and took a glance. "Happy?" He asked.

Using the wall, Lark pushed himself up. "No," he said, "Not until our _pal_ Zexin answers some questions."

Zabuza chuckled, "My thoughts exactly, oh and by the way, freshen up... you both smell like crap."

**

* * *

**

Naruto's eyes barely cracked open, giving him a thin line of vision where everything he saw was tinted pink. He groaned, his voice was heavily saturated with the muffle of rasp and phlegm. He coughed up the obstruction in his throat and then swallowed in back down. He found himself blinking rapidly to get rid of the hard crust lining his eyelashes, he would have simply opted to rub it off but unfortunately his limbs would not work with him.

He found that his hands had been strapped over one another and to his sides, taut clothing binding them tightly. The hospital room lights were bright and blinding, reflecting of the pure white walls of his room with an almost annoying luster. The gleam from the floor and walls was beginning to make his overly-sensitive eyes ache.

"Hey!" He yelled out, listening to his echo, "Get me out of this thing!" He turned his body left and the right, repeating the action over and over again until his finally gain enough momentum to roll himself off the bed. He hadn't taken into account how high the bed was from the floor and ended up smacking his head against the hard tile.

" Ow, Hey!" He yelled again. "Cut me out of this shit! Where the fuck is everyone?" Turning onto his stomach, his arched his back in order to get onto his knees and from that onto his feet. Naruto was breathing heavily, he looked around the bright white room and froze, his lower lip was left dangling.

"Wh-where the hell is the door? Where are the windows," His head turned swiftly toward one of the walls in a way that mimicked paranoia. He gritted his teeth and ran full speed at the wall, head first; Closing his eyes, Naruto braced for impact. None came though, the wall seemed to sink in rather then resist; it was soft and padded. His head sunk into the wall for a moment, then his body was flung back and he tripped over his legs and fell onto the floor.

"P-padded walls...oh no... they put me in the fucking loony bin?" Naruto felt the anger well up inside him. "No!" He squired like a worm, like someone who actually was insane. That term seemed to fit Naruto so well: insane. It had a peculiar ring to it, not sounding bad at all when placed next to his name: _Insane _Naruto, not so bad.

He'd already gone insane twice, why not give him the straight jacket and padded cell to go with it? The irony of the situation pissed him off even more. So much to the point that he was seething, his breath seeped through the indiscernible gaps between his teeth, hot with fury and scorn. "Oh boy, how fitting," He said staring at the bright lights of the ceiling. He finally calmed down and resigned to laying quietly on his back.

There he sighed, he wished Larxene was here or Haku, or even Hinata; hell, he'd even take Zabuza! He'd take anyone right now! But it seemed that some deity had heard his silent prayer. As soon as he had wished for it, like magic it happened? Cool huh?

Naruto snapped his head to the left, looking apprehensively underneath his bed. There was a small ruffle coming from underneath it but he couldn't quite see what it was making the noise; whatever it was was obscured by a rather large shadow. His eyes snapped open in realization. A rather large shadow...no way...

Low and behold, look who came crawling out from underneath his bed: it was Larxene! His face instantly lit up, his chest feeling that familiar warmth once again. "Lar-chan!" He exclaimed.

Still on all fours, she moved one finger to her lips, "Shhh! Hush up!" She whispered forcefully. "I'm not supposed to be here, we don't want to be heard," she maintained her whisper, although it was gentler, "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Yeah, what happened to me?" Naruto asked.

Larxene twitched at the question. "Y-you mean... you don't remember? You've been out for three days."

Naruto picked at his teeth, "No not really, wait, I'm in some serious trouble... does that mean you are too?" Larxene shook her head.

"N-no, they actually blamed everything on you...I'm sorry...I tried to vouch for you but... they didn't believe that it was me who caused that first chakra spike. Apparently _only_ Kyuubi is capable of producing chakra that evil." Larxene grimaced. Naruto laughed then, breaking her out of her harsh facial expression. Instead now she looked confused. "E-excuse me, am I missing a joke?"

"Yeah, I planned it Lar-chan," She watched him squirm until he looked at her,"...a little help?" She quickly moved to help him, sitting him straight onto the floor, lotus style. "Thanks," he said. "Anyway, yeah, I planned it. I didn't think you could feel it at the time, but right when we started following Xion we were being followed."

"What?" Larxene blinked rapidly.

"Yeah, Hinata noticed it and told me, but I told her not to say anything." He noticed Larxene's darkening expression and held his hands up defensively. "Hey now, before you get angry, let me say that I did it for you guys. Nobody was there when we fought and I didn't want to anyone to know that that foul chakra spike was you; I wanted to find a way to get them to think it was me...so I let Kyuubi take over for a bit. The villagers would be looking for an explanation to who caused that spike. I knew that if they had seen me using Kyuubi's chakra they would automatically link that to the earlier chakra spike, and assume that that was also me."

_Sorry Kyuubi._

**It's okay Naruto, I understand.**_  
_

Larxene gasped, "B-but why? Now people think that you're some kind of monster!"

Naruto put his finger to her lips, "Now _you_ hush up!" He said in a raspy whisper. "You're not supposed to be here, _remember?_" Naruto sighed, leaning his head forward, looking at the ground. " Let them think what they want. Listen Lar-chan, you don't know what this village is about. The villagers... their eyes can do certain things to you. They can hurt you, and you just got here, it would be better for them to hate me more than have them look at you, any of you, the same way they look at me."

Larxene stayed silent for a moment. For such a simple reason? He was trying to keep the villagers at bay, was that it? Slowly she held onto Naruto's chin, and raised his head back up; she gazed at him with moisture in her eyes. She then smacked him, HARD. Sending his face whipping to the right and tinging his cheek pink. The sound echoed throughout the padded cell. Naruto's eyes were wide.

Larxene then held him by the shoulders and sniffled in the tear of joy attempting to worm its way out. "Baka," she said, drawing Naruto into her bosom. Not ready for it, he landed clumsily in between her breast. "Stop worrying about me, you think I give a damn what the villager's think about me?"

Naruto stayed silent for a long, _long_ moment before he finally said, "S-sorry."

Larxene simply nodded and pulled him tighter. This _should_ have been extremely embarrassing, she would never _ever_ let Naruto do this again. But he was so self-sacrificing for her... she supposed that it was appropriate for her to allow this as well. But at the moment... it wasn't all that unbearable, as apposed to all the other times she would have deemed as harassment. After a few more minutes of a silence, she pushed Naruto away from her and boy did he look disappointed.

"Aw, I was enjoying that!" He pouted. Larxene's tsundere side was slowly beginning to regain its control, for she blushed heavily and instantly let go of Naruto's shoulders.

"Uh, I-I brought something with me."

"Really, what?"

Larxene reached back underneath the bed, well into the shadow it cast and pulled out a small wooden, decorated box labeled "Ichiraku's". Naruto's nose seemed twitch with delight, he opened his maw wide, barely stopping himself from drooling. "Is...is that?" Naruto asked softly between shaky breaths, "r-ramen."

Larxene grinned, "Miso Pork flavor, you're hungry right?"

Naruto scuffled closer to her, clearly excited and clearly starving. His stomach let out a high, twisting growl at which Larxene giggled. "YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF..oh," he lowered his voice to a low whisper once more, "-you don't know the half of it."

Larxene placed the bow between them and slid its top off. A large decorated bowl of ramen, still with a lid on, sat perfectly in the center. Larxene peeled off its lid and tossed it back underneath the bed. "Jajan," she said, "here you go." The smell hit them both, and they both inhaled deeply at the scent. She smiled, picking up the chopstick. Just as she was about to hand them to Naruto her hand froze.

Naruto smiled and then opened up it mouth. "Ahh." He said, expectantly.

Larxene blushed furiously, "I-I don't have to do that. I-I can just cut you free."

"Oh, but then people would know that someone came to see me," he turned his head to the side innocently, "You don't want to?"

"I...uh...I...fine," she said resigning to defeat. She sighed and broke the chopsticks apart; Naruto was chuckling triumphantly. A quick dip in the broth and Larxene strung out a long intertwined mess of gleaming noodles and held them in front of Naruto's face. "Ta...take it," she said.

He nodded, "Oh yeah, Itadakumasu!" He said before snatching the noodles off the sticks; Larxene was surprised at how voraciously he ate. With every bite he would give a rough but playful tug to the chopsticks, pulling her hand closer to him every time he did so. He smiled all the way through, as did she. Although he had terrible manners, he slurped obnoxiously, it was kind of cute the way Naruto ate, like a little kid. Most people would beg to differ, but then again Naruto never really hung around most people.

He stopped his onslaught of the food, with only half the noodles left, and looked at her. His blue eyes with wide and flecked brightly with the light of the ceiling. Larxene closed her legs even tighter then they already were. Quickly, if lightly, she felt her flutter. "You eat some too," Naruto said.

She snapped back, "Huh, oh no I couldn't, it's for you."

"But I want you to," Naruto said sternly. Biting her lip, Larxene conformed reluctantly.

"O-okay," she muttered.

She didn't feel bad for eating his food, it's just that she _was_ eating his food..._with him_! Larxene slowly took a tangle of noodles too, blowing on it softly, before slurping it down. But half-way before the mess of noodles disappeared into her mouth, Naruto leaned forward an slurped from the bottom of the noodles up until his lips met with Larxene's.

Taken by surprise Larxene let out a high moan, she couldn't properly swallow the food but Naruto kept leaning it. He almost spilled what was left in the bowl, but she slid it away in time and allowed him to continue leaning in until he was fully on top of her. His arms, still crossed over each other pressed into her stomach and his chest pressed against hers. Whether it was the kiss or ramen, she sure felt a hell of a lot warmer! It was a grand combination of food and romance and as odd as it was, she liked it. Both his lips _and_ the ramen, she now knew why he liked the stuff so much. It was delicious... or was that him?

Just as she was about to move her hands from his back to his head, he pulled away. She did her best to hide her disappointment.

"See, it's good right?" He asked.

She only laughed at him and agreed, "Yeah, the ramen tastes delicious."

**

* * *

**

It had been a month and Naruto was _still_ in the asylum, Haku and Hinata were _still_ in intensive care, and the red-headed girl was... she was...

Larxene blinked, she actually had no clue where that girl was. Come to think of it, after the Hokage had come and forced out an explanation from her, which he didn't even believe anyway, that was the last she had seen of her. Larxene scoffed, she probably went running back to the Asahoshi with her tailed tucked in between her legs. Figures. For all that big talk, she sure was quick to turn and run. She couldn't help but grumble at the thought of it, that scarlet haired witch being affiliated with her, even if the connection was indirect it was still enough to piss her off.

She leaned forward onto the counter, Ichiraku's smell had become almost like home to her; now she was here almost as much as Naruto was. She looked down at bowl of now only broth and stared at her reflection. This stuff had become like her new addiction, well ever since... you know. It seemed that getting ramen romantically shoved down your gullet did the trick, once that happened, you were hooked on the stuff.

Ayame walked from the back kitchen, waving toward Larxene. "Larxene-san, how was the food?" She asked with a cheerful smile.

Larxene smiled back, "Great as always."

Unexpectedly, Ayame leaned forward onto the counter-top, Bartender style. "You know you sure have been coming around here a lot lately," she gave her a cheesy smile, "has a certain someone gotten you hooked?"

Larxene scratched the tip of her nose, "Huh, well I guess so."

Suddenly both girls jerked at a sudden high-pitched squeal that ripped through the air. It seemed oddly familiar...

Larxene peeped out outside through the entrance cloth and noticing that, high up in the air, two birds were engaging in a bout of combat. One of them was bluish-gray with specks pf brown near its belly, Larxene smiled as she instantly realized whose bird it was. She brought her fingers to her mouth and blew, letting out a high whistle. Tomo recognized the sound and quickly ended her battle, shifting swiftly into a smooth dive-bomb in Larxene's direction. She gave two mighty stabilizing flaps before perching herself on Larxene's shoulder, her talons were only a minor nuisance.

"Hi Tomo, long time no see girl," she said giving the peregrine a gentle scratch underneath the beak. Tomo screeched happily. "Lets get you where you belong." She waved back at Ayame, leaving a few bills and coins strewn out on the counter. She turned in the direction of the hospital, but before she could even take one step someone grabbed her shoulder, firmly, and abruptly spun her around.

She immediately frowned lifting her lip up in annoyance. "Oh, you two," she said slowly. "What?"

Sasuke was the one who had spun her around, he stared sternly at her. Sakura was shrinking behind him, her green eyes switching back and forth between Larxene and the ground. Only after a few awkward seconds did Sasuke notice that she was staring at his hand, still on her shoulder. Her quickly removed it and began without any preamble.

"W-where's Naruto?" He asked.

Still scratching the underside of Tomo's beak Larxene scrunched her face into a scowl. And why would I know that?" She asked.

Sasuke brought together his two index fingers in a straight line, demonstratively, "Well, you're a couple right?" He resisted the urge to flinch, remembering the last time he'd done that.

Surprisingly Larxene didn't respond as harshly as he'd expected. She didn't punch, nor kick, not even a frown. She just wore this kind of neutral expression that he wasn't prepared for; so it looked kind of stupid when he jumped back. She simply said, "Well, I guess so."

"Really?" Sakura asked, suddenly poking her head out from behind Sasuke.

Larxene reddened mildly, "Yeah..." she said sheepishly. "Wait, why are you even looking for him?"

Sasuke folded his arms and looked up; he pointed at a dark brown falcon circling overhead. It was the same one that Tomo was fighting with earlier, by size it was much larger than Tomo, but Tomo still won that fight in her opinion. "That, Chunin exams, we can't participate unless he's with us."

"Oh... well, good luck with that." She said walking away.

"Wait!"

"What?" She said, she spun around and palmed her hips, "What now?"

"Aren't you going to tell us where he is?"

"Um...let me think about that?" SHe tapped her chin twice, "no."

Sasuke let out a low growl through his teeth. "Would you stop being so difficult and just tell us?" Sakura moved in front of him, her pink hair sway wildly as she gave a deep bow.

"Please Larxene-san, we really need him. It also means that _he_ won't be able to become a Chunin either!"

Larxene stood silent, letting the atmosphere marinate in its own silence. Finally she sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'll show you but I've got to go somewhere first. Wait for me in front of the hospital."

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Thank y-"

"I'm not helping you, I'm helping Naruto."

"We'll take whatever we can get."

* * *

Larxene slowly turned the brass nob to Haku's hospital room, room 206. "Haku-chan look who I-"

She instantly froze.

Tomo screeched loudly, flapping wildly and loudly off of her shoulder and into the room, perching on top of an abandoned I.V.

Standing above Haku, pointing two slender fingers at both of her closed eyelids was a smallish woman wearing a black trench coat with the hood up. She turned to look at Larxene in the doorway, immediately she seemed to perk up, by the sound of her delighted gasped it seemed that she was smiling.

"Ah...La-La! Long time no see!" She flipped off her hood, showing her long and glowing onyx hair. She still had those same familiar dark brown eyes, they still had glistened after all this time. This girl was a bit older than her brother, and an old friend of hers. She was pretty much the only person that she trusted in the organization besides her brother, an older sister of sorts.

Larxene felt her lips tremble, "T-tabitha... why are-"

Tabitha flipped her hair, still smiling enthusiastically; she winked at Larxene. What a killer wink she always had. Larxene had always wanted to wink like that but she wasn't pretty enough for it. "Oh don't mind me La-la, 'kay?" With that she turned back down to Haku's sleeping form and touched her finger tips to Haku's eyelids. It didn't take long for Larxene to act; at the sound of Tomo's discordant screech two spear-tipped shadows lunged at Tabitha's hand and torso preparing to spear right through her.

Tabitha looked at her with wide eyes and as the shadows pierced her she erupted into a plume of black dust, which suddenly shifted to the left, morphing back to Tabitha's petite form a few feet away. Tabitha held her hand delicately on her chest, right above her heart. She looked aghast. "La-La...h-how could you attack me?"

Larxene stayed silent as she walked inside the room and slowly closed the door. "Tabitha...step away from her."

Tabitha scowled, "Or else wha-"

"Or else I'll have to make you!" Larxene shouted, shutting her eyes tightly, she hung her head low. She lowered her voice when she heard Haku stir. "Please... step away." She heard nothing for a while, hoping that Tabitha would just leave. But of course she was leaving too much on hope's shoulders.

"I have my orders La-La, Zexin-sama will have my head unless I don't take this girl's bloodline." Tabitha said softly.

"Why her?"

"He wants to provoke the Namikaze, wants him to get angry and come after us." She heard the sound of flowing sand once more, the sound of Tabitha's body morphing into the black dust again; it suddenly got closer and Tabitha's arms were wrapping themselves around her head.

Larxene buried her head into Tabitha's bosom. _This is what Naruto must have felt like,_ she thought. She knew that when she chose to follow Naruto she would have to fight her former comrades, but next to her brother she wanted to fight Tabitha the least. "Nee-san, don't make me fight you."

Tabitha tightened her grip, "Sadly, I wish I could make that happen."

Larxene twitched slightly, inhaling deeply. A black tendril pierced Tabitha's shoulder, but it did not sink deep enough, for Tabitha's body had already decomposed to dust and she was already recomposing herself by the window where she smiled. "You've grown stronger La-La, good to see. I wish things were different but if I don't do this I'm dead!" She waggled her finger twice and said, "Ichimei, Ichimei!"

Larxene was knocked back by what felt like a wall of air; her back hit the door with enough force to break its hinges straight off, sending her _and_ the door into the hallway. She groaned, feeling her back throb with pain, she'd need to go to the chiropractor after this. Disgruntled and dazed Larxene stood shakily to her feet, to her left and right nurses were murmuring fearfully. It seemed they wanted to help, but were too afraid to see what was going on.

She saw Tabitha walk to the window and open it, "You aren't strong enough to take me on, imouto( little sister), please don't get up. I _will_ fight you if I have to, otherwise let me finish what I came here to do." She held a dangerous venom in her voice. And her eyes, while still wonderfully luminous, glittered with sternness. Tabitha stood there, hoping that Larxene would simply stay down, however her lips pressed together in a tight line when Larxene did otherwise. Just like she remembered her, La-La was still as rebellious as ever. In some twisted way Tabitha wanted to smile, a small sliver of pride pierced her heart.

Tabitha then held out her hand, her fingers positioned to choke. "Fine," she said, "I'm sorry then...Ichimei...Ichimei." Larxene yelped as her body was suddenly thrust back the same way it had been blown back, attracting itself to Tabitha's hand like a magnet. Her legs gave an involuntary jerk forward when her body stopped abruptly, her neck held firmly in Tabitha's clutch. It was the hand attached to the arm with the bloody shoulder, she'd pierced.

"Nee-san...so am I." Larxene's clothes seemed to wiggle for a moment as if something alive was underneath them. Tabitha's eyes widened as Larxene's entire body exploded with blackness.

* * *

Alrighty then...I'm officially done... yeah I am... back in the groove. I am deeply sorry for the extremely long wait, I have been getting many messages asking whether or not this fic had been discontinued and I would like to say...ABSOLUTELY NOT. I'm still writing, its also that, all this year I have been working towards one goal: College!

And I am proud to say I am going to be a member of the class of 2015 at JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY! I'm so pumped about it!

Yay!

But seriously I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. Hopefully my grammar was on point and what not. You guys already know what I'm gonna say...so I'm gonna say it: **BADASS  
**Yeah get used to it. Haha, alright read on folks.

Latr and many Thanx

Next chapter: Witch hunter

Grim's out!


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